


Star Struck Lovers (Scarlet America)

by CodyEvans_Maximoff



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety, Bucky Barnes & Wanda Maximoff Friendship, Comfort/Angst, Depression, F/M, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Smut, Good Sibling Pietro Maximoff, Hurt Wanda Maximoff, My First Smut, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Pietro Maximoff is a Little Shit, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Natasha Romanov, References to Depression, Self-Doubt, Self-Harm, Smut, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Wanda Maximoff & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:07:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 33,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25488235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CodyEvans_Maximoff/pseuds/CodyEvans_Maximoff
Summary: **This is reposted on here from my Wattpad account. I will be putting the dates that I originally wrote each chapter.**Added to AO#3 on: July 2020Wanda Maximoff is destroyed after the death of her brother. She feels alone, with no one left who understands her or cares about her. Steve Rogers realizes that the new recruit is not feeling very welcome and seems to be isolating herself from the team. Steve tries his best to help Wanda feel like she belongs while trying to deal with the crush that he has developed on her. Little does he know that Wanda also has feelings for him.After what seems like a quick confession of the feelings, the two begin dating. But what will happen to their blossoming romance? Will their relationship interfere with the team?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Pietro Maximoff/Original Female Character(s), Wanda Maximoff/Steve Rogers
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

So before I get into the actual story, here is a little intro!  
I have posted this story on Wattpad, back in 2018 (I started this story back then and finished it up recently. There is a sequel to it through, which I am still working on). I like this platform better for writing through, so I am trying to bring all my work over to here (which is a bit hard).

There is not too much I have to add, but I will be posting these over the new while, so updates take a bit of time (but it will be quicker than other stories because the chapters are already written). 

That's about it from me! I hope you enjoy! :)


	2. Chapter 2

It is early in the morning, the day after the fight with Ultron. All of the Avengers are headed back to the base now, including their newest recruit, Wanda. The team is all gathered around the cockpit of the helicarrier, making some sort of conversation with each other, even if it is just small talk. All expect for Wanda. Unlike the others, Wanda is sitting away from the group, in a small corridor of the helicarrier. She is sitting, silently, with her back firmly pressed up against the wall and her knees tucked into her chest. Her arms are wrapped around her legs, so she is hugging herself. She still cannot process what has happened in that fight and does not want to think about losing her brother.

 _He is just staying home for a while_. Wanda thinks to herself. _He is still back in Sokovia, and I am just going with the Avengers to get my powers under control. They are going to help me and train me. And before I know it, I will be headed back home to be with Pietro once more._

But Wanda knows that these are lies. She knows that Pietro is gone. She can no longer feel his presence and she cannot hear his thoughts mixed in with her own. Wanda begins to feel tears rush to her eyes once again, and she knows that she will begin to cry. That is all that has been happening ever since the battle. She starts to cry, trying her best to stay as quiet as possible so no one hears her. She knows that she fails to do so though as she opens her eyes. She now sees one of the Avengers, and one of the nicest people to her, Captain Rogers. Steve is standing in front of her, holding a cup of tea and a blanket.

Steve has been concerned about the new recruit, since she is isolating herself from everyone else and has not said much to anyone, for that matter. He wants to help her warm up to the others and realize she does not have to be alone, but he also does not want to make her feel pressured to. Instead of forcing her to join the group, Steve decides to go to her and see if she is willing to talk with just him. He hopes that this small gesture of bringing her tea and the blanket will help her feel better, and possible help to show her that she can trust him and come to him.

"Hey," Steve says, looking at Wanda.

Wanda quickly wipes the tears from her eyes, trying to clear her face and make it seem like she is not crying. She does not want everyone to see her as a weak kid, and she just hates crying in front of people in general.

"Hi," Wanda replies, forcing a smile.

Steve does not need to be a mind reader to know that Wanda is not okay, but he does not force her to open up and talk. Instead, he just sits down next to her in an attempt to be there for her.

"I brought you some tea." Steve says. "And a blanket. It is a bit cold in here, so I though it might help."

"Thank you." Wanda replies, accepting the tea and letting Steve place the blanket around her.

The two sit in silence for a few minutes as Wanda carefully takes a few sips of the hot tea before placing it down next to her so it can cool down.

"Are you feeling any better?" Steve finally asks, breaking the silence.

"If I am going to be honest, not really." Wanda says, slightly opening up to him. "I thought I had just dreamt it before. I thought all of this was just a nightmare. I thought that Pietro was still alive. I thought if I closed my eyes and went to sleep, everything would go back to normal when I woke up."

Wanda starts to tear up, but swallows hard trying to control herself.

"I thought he was still here," Wanda continues, softly, as her voice seems to crack. "I thought he would be here, breathing, and I thought that I could still talk to him. I thought I would be able to hear his voice and hear him joking around. And I thought..."

Wanda starts crying now, her sobs echoing in the room and Steve cannot ignore how they sound full of pain. Wanda gets a broken feeling in her chest once again and she feels her heart drop into her stomach, which just causes the tears to flow down her cheeks faster than before.

"Wanda, although you may not be able to see it now, everything is going to be okay." Steve says, trying to be helpful and hopeful.

"No it's not!" Wanda screams back. "You don't understand! I lost everyone that I have ever known and loved. I already lost my parents when I was 10. And now I lost everything else that I had and everything that I have ever known!"

There is a pause in the conversation, and Wanda inhales deeply.

"I have lost my home and more importantly, I lost my brother." Wanda says, her voice becoming soft once more. "I lost Pietro; the only person I had left. I don't have anything anymore. All I have are the clothes on my back and memories...memories that I mostly wish were not true! I wish I didn't have any kind of memories left."

"No, Wanda, you don't wish that." Steve replies. "When I came back...after all those years, everything I knew was changed and my friends were all gone. Peggy was left, yes, but she didn't even remember me and I would keep having to retell her everything over and over again. Bucky is not himself and is gone again. I know it isn't the same as what you are going through, but I understand. I hold onto the good memories I have of them and sometimes it can be painful, but I am grateful for it all."

Wanda stops sobbing, taking a moment to think about everything Steve has just said. She feels sorry for him and she feels bad for accusing him of not knowing how she is feeling. Instead of calming down, she start crying again.

"I'm sorry, I am so sorry. I had no idea." Wanda sobs. "It was not right for me to say any of that to you and yell at you the way I did."

"It's okay Wanda, I just want you to know that you have me if you need something." Steve replies. "If you need someone to understand you, or listen to you, or even try to help you, I can try my best to give you that."

Wanda nods as tears continue to flow down her cheeks. Steve knows that he cannot say anything to help her feel better, so instead he does the on thing he can do; wrap his arm around her. At first, he is slightly hesitant to do so, worried that Wanda would not want to accept the hug and might get angry at him. After a moment of having his arms around her, Steve realizes that she is not fighting him on the hug. So he decides to pull her a little closer and hug her a little tighter, trying to let her know that she is loved, cared for and valued. Wanda is shocked by the hug Steve gives her, since the only people who have ever hugged her were her parents and Pietro. Memories come to Wanda of Pietro hugging her whenever she was feeling sad or even if she just needed reassurance. This hug from Steve makes Wanda cry just a little harder than before. Steve has been so kind to her, even though he barely knows her and gave her, as well as Pietro, a second chance.

After a moment more, Wanda turns and faces Steve.

"Steve?" Wanda says softly, between her shaky breaths.

"Yes?" Steve replies, making eye contact with her.

"Thank you." Wanda says.

She takes this opportunity to finally wrap her arm around Steve, hugging him back.

"It's no big deal, really." Steve says. "It's a hug, and I can tell that you need one. Plus, it is one of the only things I can do to try to make you feel just a little bit better."

"It means a lot to me though." Wanda says. "It is a big deal to me, and I thank you so much for it. And I thank you for everything else that you have done for me." Wanda pulls part of the blanket around Steve and gives him a teary-eyed smile, showing him how much she appreciates him.

"I think that is the first time I've seen you actually smile." Steve replies, giving Wanda a small smile in return.

"I think it just might be." Wanda replies, laughing a little bit.

\----

Wanda and Steve spend the rest of the flight back to the Avengers facility sitting next to one another. The two do not say much to each other, but Steve makes sure to leave his arm around Wanda. He hopes that by doing this, Wanda will feel a little bit less alone and like she has someone to turn to. Finally, after a few more hours of flight, the helicarrier arrives back at Avengers facility.

"Is this...it?" Wanda says, looking at the enormous building in awe.

"Yes, this is it." Steve replies. "Want me to show you to your room? And then afterwards, I can show you around the entire facility, just so you can get a feel about the area and, so you aren't completely lost."

"Sounds good to me." Wanda replies, giving Steve a smile.

Steve and Wanda walk into the Avengers base and Wanda looks around, already amazed at the facility. She struggles to take it all in and cannot help herself but smile as Steve shows her around. She has never seen such a nice building in her entire life and, more importantly, she cannot believe that she is going to be staying here. Steve smiles, happy to see that Wanda is smiling. The first thing he does is lead Wanda to her room. He opens the door and the two walk in. Wanda takes a look around the room. It has been a while since she has been able to sleep in a comfortable space, but this room is way bigger than what she is used to.

The room itself is pretty spacious and simple. There is a queen sized bed sitting right in the middle of the room, which Wanda is happy about. A queen sized bed is way bigger than what she is used to, since she always had to either share a small bed with Pietro or sleep on the ground. The bed is decorated with a simple baby blue comforter on it and few extra decorative pillows in addition to the 4 normal ones.

Aside from the bed, there is also some other furniture in the room. There is a desk pushed against the wall, on one of the sides next to the bed. It is a simple, dark brown desk with a black leather wheeled chair pushed into it. Next to the desk, there is a window, which helps to completely light up the room and makes the space feel even bigger. Just under the window, there is a seating area. Next to that, there is a bookshelf. It is empty for now, but Wanda thinks about all of the books that she wants to read that will help to fill up the shelf.

On the opposite wall, sitting in front of her bed, is a TV which is placed on a stand. Wanda is very happy about having TV. Now she will have one of her own to use and would be able to watch whatever she wants. The last time she was able to watch something of her choice on TV was when she was 10. Otherwise, she would only see news channels that were in cafes and restaurants.  
Wanda's gaze then goes towards the two doors on the wall opposite of her window. She soon finds out that one leads to the bathroom, which is also very spacious and has a proper shower and tub. The other leads to the closet, which is a walk in closet and has a lot of space in it for Wanda to get all of the clothes and shoes she could ever want.

"It's kind of plain right now but, you can decorate it later, however you'd like it." Steve says, after Wanda finishes inspecting the room. "And, if you want I can help you too." 

"It's very nice of you to offer Steve, thank you." Wanda says, a smile across her face. "I will probably end up taking you up on that offer."

"No problem, Wanda. Now, let's get on with this tour, shall we?"

"Of course, Mr. 1940s."

Steve gives Wanda a look, raising his eyebrow at her. She cannot help but let out a laugh. Steve just rolls his eyes at Wanda. He cannot get mad at her, nor would he, and is just happy to see her making jokes, smiling and laughing. Steve smiles at Wanda and gestures for the two of them to leave her room, so he can show her the rest of the facility. Steve shows Wanda the entire base, from the kitchen to the meeting room to the office space to the screening room to the gym and even the rec room. He knows that it is a lot for her to take in, and suspects that she will probably get lost, but he tells her not to worry about it.

He finishes off his tour by showing her the rest of the bedrooms. Steve just tells hers whos is whos and does not show her the inside, of course. He decides to do this so that Wanda will know where everyone is, in case she ever needs to find someone. After the tour, Steve and Wanda meet the rest of the Avengers in the kitchen.

"Well, what do we have here?" Nat says.

This causes the rest of the Avengers to turn and look at Steve and Wanda, who have walked into the room together.

"Is this the brand new couple?" Nat asks.

"Nat..." Steve says.

"Steve, we can all see how much you like her." Nat replies. "Every time that you look at her, your whole face lights up!"

"Yeah, come on Cap!" Tony says. "We all know you need a new girlfriend! You haven't dated in what? Like, 70 years?" 

Steve just shakes his head. He is in disbelief that his friends are already trying to embarrass him in front of the newest team member. The worst part is that they are not wrong; Steve is finding himself crushing on Wanda. But he does not want to say anything, the timing would be horrible! Wanda just lost her brother, her home and is now in a new place. Brining up his feelings for her would be a very, very bad choice at this time. 

Meanwhile, Wanda is standing next to Steve, her cheeks starting to redden slightly. Steve's embarrassment is starting to get to her, and she tries her best to not let it show, but is failing to do so. She is smiling thought, thinking about what the team just said. 

_Does Steve really like me?_ Wanda wonders. 

Ever since she first met Steve, sometime about him just...interested her. Then when they were on the train together, Wanda's feelings were only further confirmed. Something about his mannerisms, kindness and morals made Wanda like him. But she pushes her thoughts aside. She cannot even bring up a relationship with Steve. For starters, the time would horrible! Also, dating a team member probably is not allowed, right?

"Hey Cap," Clint says, interupting Wanda's thoughts and walking over to Steve and Wanda. "You better not hurt my daughter!"

"Daughter?" Steve asks.

"Yeah, Wanda is my daughter now!"

"Um...okay?"

"If you hurt her, I'll have to hurt you!"

Wanda lets out a laugh at Clint, acting like a typical 'overprotective dad'. Clint then puts an arm around Wanda's her shoulders and looks over at her. The two make eye contact and Clint winks in Wanda's direction, just to ensure that she knows he is joking. Then, the two share a smile with each other. Clint has been amazing to Wanda, which makes her think that part of the reason is that guilt is eating away at him. Even without her powers, Wanda knows that Clint feels guilty about what happened to Pietro. She thinks that Clint feels like he is the reason why her brother is dead, although Wanda knows that Pietro would have taken a bullet for anyone.

Pietro was always that kind of guy; the one to be the hero. He would look out for everyone, except for himself, and would never think before he did something. He was reckless, but he was such a kind, thoughtful guy, who just wanted everyone to be okay. Wanda pushes thoughts of Pietro out of her mind and thinks about Clint once again. Even without him feeling guilty about the events that took place, Clint had already taken one a 'father' role for the twins. Since the moment that he met them, Clint had always felt like he was almost like their father. Yes, they did try to kill him and the rest of the Avengers, and yes, they may have fought each other, but he saw that they were just kids. They lost their family when they were young and they had a tough life. They made a bad choice but they had good intentions.

"Guys, stop it, okay?" Steve finally says.

"Whatever you say, Captain." Tony says. "But just know, that we know."

"What do you know, exactly?" Steve asks. 

No one responds though.

"I'm calling it now, three days." Nat says, smirking over at Steve and Wanda.


	3. Chapter 3

A few hours pass of the Avengers just hanging out in the base, watching movies together, spending some time alone and just having some down time. After missions, the Avengers like to take some time to destress and clear their minds, especially after something as big as what happened in Sokovia. It is finally time for dinner and after a long argument, the decision is made to have pizza. Tony places an order for pizzas and then goes back to the group of Avengers sitting. Between all of the talking and conversations, Wanda manages to escape to her room.

She is not really in the mood to be talking to everyone right now. She opens the door and closes it behind her. Then she turns to face her room. She is just going to lie down on her bed, but her plan is stalled when she finds that there is something placed on her bed. After a second, she realizes that it is a black jacket sitting there. Not just any black jacket though, it is Pietro's jacket. Wanda smiles as she takes a seat on the bed, next to the jacket. It is the jacket that Pietro was wearing before they went to fight Ultron. She picks up the jacket and hugs it, taking in the scent of Pietro. All she can think about is her brother now. The way he made smartass comments, his goofball personality, his smile, and how he would do anything just to make her smile.

"Pietro, I miss you." Wanda mumbles to herself.

Wanda's eyes start to water as she hugs the jacket a little tighter than before. Just then, something falls out of the pocket of Pietro's jacket. Wanda looks down on the floor and notices that it is an envelope. She picks it up and opens it. Inside, she finds that there is a pile of pictures. Wanda pulls them out of the envelope and starts to look through them, finding that they are ones of her, Pietro and her parents. Wanda starts to get teary-eyed just by seeing the pictures. Old memories start to flood her head of when she was younger. Just then, someone knocks at her door to her bedroom.

"Come in." Wanda says, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Hey," Steve says, just poking his head into the room. "I noticed that you weren't downstairs and I got a bit worried. I thought I would find you here though. Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes." Wanda replies. "It is just that I do not know everyone all that well yet, and I kind of feel out of place downstairs with everyone."

"You are definitely not out of place here, Wanda. And if you are feeling out of place at all or if you're just not feeling that great, I hope you know you can just stick with me."

"Okay. Thank you very much, Steve."

"No need to thank me." Steve smiles at Wanda.

Then, he notices what Wanda is holding.

"Oh, about that," Steve says, referring to the jacket. "We found your brother's jacket here and thought that you might want it."

"Thanks for that." Wanda says. "I for sure want this."

"And it looks like you found something." Steve gestures to the envelope and the stack of photos that Wanda is holding.

He walks into the room now and closes the door behind him. He leans up against the wall next to the door, crossing his arms, and looks at Wanda, smiling at her.

"Yeah I did." Wanda says, looking down at the stack of photos and smiling. "Pietro must have held onto them for all these years. I mean, he was always very sentimental but would never admit that."

"Let me see some of these pictures then." Steve says, approaching Wanda and then taking a seat next to her on the bed.

"No." Wanda says with a light laugh, as Steve grabs some of the pictures. "I look so bad in these pictures!"

"I bet you don't, Wanda."

"I looked so bad when I was younger."

"No! Just look at this picture."

Steve shows Wanda the picture he is looking at. It looks like they are about 7 years old. The two of them are wearing pajamas and sitting on either side of a giant teddy bear. Based on the decorations, and the small Christmas tree that can partially be seen in corner of the picture, it appears to be Christmas day.

"You look adorable." Steve says, smiling.

"Ok Steve, that's enough," Wanda says.

Quiet falls over the conversation, both Wanda and Steve taking a moment to gather their thoughts. Wanda then she sniffles a little, struggling to contain her emotions and feeling slightly overwhelmed. She misses Pietro. She misses the time when they were young and did not have to deal with so many problems.

"Wanda, are you okay?" Steve says as he takes notice of Wanda's change in expression, now concerned about her.

"I miss him still." Wanda says, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

"Wanda," Steve says with a sigh, trying to gather his thoughts. "Come here."

Steve opens his arms up, offering to give Wanda a hug. Wanda does not hesitate when offered the hug by Steve. She throws herself into his arms and buries her head in his chest, starting to cry again.

"I'm sorry I keep crying, Steve," Wanda says. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you have to deal with me. I'm sorry that I've decided to cling onto you and that now you have to deal with me. I'm sorry that I am an emotional mess. I'm sorry Steve, I am so sorry. If you want out, then I can leave you alone, and I promise I won't bother you."

"Shh, stop apologizing. You have nothing to be sorry about." Steve says. "Wanda, I will do anything to make you feel better, even if I all I can do is just sit here and hug you. And I most definitely do not want you to leave me alone. I really enjoy spending time with you, and I want to always be here for you. Understand?"

Wanda nods against Steve's shirt. Steve continues to hug Wanda and holds her close to him. He runs his hand up and down her back, trying to calm her down and comfort her. Finally, Wanda stops crying. Steve lets go of her and she gives him a little smile. Then, Wanda starts putting away the pictures.

"How about we get a frame for these? Or a board for them?" Steve suggests. "So you can always have them up."

"I'd like that." Wanda replies. "It would be nice, to have a reminder of Pietro and my parents. I'd really like that a lot."

"How about we go look for one tomorrow?" Steve suggests. "And while we are out, we can start looking for anything that you want for your room, if you'd like. Okay?"

"Sounds good to me. Thanks, Steve."

"Yeah no problem. Like I said before, I am willing to do anything and everything to make you happy, or at least try to."

"Thank you, Steve. For everything."

"No worries. Now, shall we head downstairs and join the others? I am sure that the pizzas are here. Or do you want to stay here?"

"Honestly, I think I'm just going to get some sleep. I'm a little bit tired."

"Want me to grab you something to eat before you go to sleep?"

"I'm okay, really. I am mostly tired now."

"Alright. Well, if you need anything, I'll either be downstairs. Or in my room across the hall."

"Okay, goodnight Steve. Thank you."

"Goodnight Wanda. Sleep well."

\----

When it is well past midnight, Steve decides to go for a jog before going to get some sleep. Steve usually goes on a jog before bed, or works out, or at least does something active because it helps him fall asleep. On this particular night though, or morning since it is past 12, Steve decides that he will keep his jog short, just in case Wanda needs him. He wants to be there for her, no matter what. Steve really feels for her and just wants to make sure that she is feeling welcome to the Avengers. He wants to make sure she is comfortable, happy and, overall, at least okay. Steve knows how difficult it was when he came back and realized he lost everything he knows. That is partially why he is trying his best to ensure that Wanda does not feel excluded, alone and isolated. He knows that Pietro meant everything to her, and he was her sense of security. That is also why Steve cannot help but think that it will soon be Pietro's funeral. He knows that Wanda will find this day very difficult, and wants to ensure she can confide in him if she needs to.

As soon as Steve comes back from the jog, he grabs a bottle of water from the fridge in the kitchen. He then walks towards his room but, stops for a moment when he sees that the door to Wanda's room is open. Although he wants to respect her privacy, he decides to go in and check on her, figuring that it would be okay since the door is wide open anyways. Steve walks into Wanda's room and sees that the light is on but that she is asleep. Her hair is messy but neat at the same time, her cheeks are tear-stained and it looks as if she has been crying for a while. Steve feels bad that he left for a jog and wishes he has stayed. He does not like the idea of Wanda crying alone, but he also knows that she might just need alone time. Steve pushes his guilt and thoughts of regret aside as he takes notice of how Wanda is curled up underneath of her brother's jacket, substituting that for a proper blanket.

Steve smiles a little bit, admiring how pure her relationship with her brother was and just taking a moment to appreciate how much the two mean to each other. Steve then adjusts the jacket on Wanda, trying to cover her up more, thinking she would get cold later on, especially considering what she is wearing; a pair of shorts and a baggy tee shirt as well as a pair of socks. Once Steve mostly covers her up, he takes a step back and looks at her, smiling. He is happy that she is finally asleep, even though it appears that she cried herself to sleep. Steve just figures that it is good that she was at least able to fall asleep and can get some rest after everything that she has gone through. He turns off the light and gives Wanda a kiss on her forehead.

"Sleep well." Steve whispers.

Steve then goes into his room, feeling rather tired. He takes a quick shower and gets changed into a pair of black sweat pants, a white tee shirt and a pair of blue socks. He quickly brushes his teeth in the washroom and then finishes off the bottle of water before lying down in his bed. It does not take him long to find a comfortable position and takes him even less time to fall asleep.

\----

Steve must have only been asleep for a few hours but he wakes up due to a scream he hears. He instantly sits up in bed, and it takes him only a moment to realize that it is Wanda screaming. He jumps out of bed and runs to Wanda's room. He turns on the light and finds her tossing and turning in bed.

"Wanda." Steve says, trying to shake Wanda so she wakes up. "Wanda, wake up. It's a dream."

Wanda does not wake up though, which sends Steve into slight panic. He continues to try and wake her up by shaking her and talking to her, but is just unsuccessful.

"Wanda?" A voice says from behind Steve.

Steve turns around to see that both Clint and Nat have joined him in Wanda's room, looks of worry and concern becoming very apparent on their faces. The two of them approach Wanda's bed and stand next to Steve, as he continues to try and wake her. After a few more minutes of trying, Wanda finally wakes up, tears running down her face.

"I'm sorry." Wanda says, realizing that Steve, Clint and Nat are in her room. "I really am sorry. I didn't mean to wake everyone up."

Nat sits down next to Wanda and Steve stays kneeled in front of her. Nat takes notice of Wanda's glossy eyes and wraps her arms around Wanda, giving her a hug, while Clint sits on the other side with his hand on Wanda's shoulder.

"It's okay." Nat says. "You didn't wake anyone else up. It is just me, Clint and Steve. And trust me, we all know about nightmares. It is normal to have them sometimes, and it's okay. We're here to help, in whatever way we can."

"Yeah, it's okay Wanda." Clint says. "Plus, if anyone complains about it, I'm sure 'Tasha will kick their ass!"

Wanda lets out a little laugh at Clint's comment and smiles at him.

"I'm okay now." Wanda says. "Thanks guys. I'm still kind of tired, so I think I'll try to get some more sleep, please."

"No problem." Nat says, giving one last hug to Wanda. "Do you need anything? Maybe glass of water or a snack?"

"I'm okay." Wanda replies. "I'll just go back to sleep."

"Are you sure?" Clint asks. "Because we can get it for you and bring it here. You don't even have to leave your bed!"

"I am sure," Wanda says, giving the two a little smile. "You guy can go get some sleep, don't worry."

"If you need anything, you know where to find us." Nat says.

"Yes, of course." Wanda replies. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Clint and Natasha exit the room, leaving Steve there with Wanda.

"I guess I'll just leave then." Steve says, standing up. "Sleep well."

Wanda grabs Steve's arm though, stopping him from leaving.

"Actually, Steve?" Wanda asks. "

Yes?" Steve replies. "Do you need me to get something?"

"Um...no. I have a different...request."

"And what would that be?"

"Can you stay here, with me? Please?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Steve. I'm sure."

Steve gives Wanda a little smile and nods, realizing that Wanda is, well, comfortable coming to him. He sits down next to her. As soon as he is seated comfortably, Wanda wraps her arms around Steve, beginning to hug him. She holds onto him tightly, not wanting to let go. She can hear his heart beating. He changes pace and nows seems to be beating quicker, which Steve can feel. In addition to his heart beating quickly, Steve worries that Wanda also might be able to see his cheeks turn red, as he blushes.

 _Stop it._ Steve thinks to himself. _You are here to support her, not try and ask her out. She is going through a lot, you are here to be her friend. Stop worrying, stop seeming to have a crush on her. Just stop!_

Wanda smiles, hearing Steve's thoughts. He is so panicky about them and Wanda does not even need to try to go into his head to hear them. She decides to do it; confront Steve.

"Steve?" Wanda asks, after a few moments of quiet.

"Yes, Wanda?" Steve asks.

"Natasha is wrong."

"Wrong about what?"

"About it being 3 days...can you just ask me out already?"

"I didn't think you'd want me to..."

"I can hear your thoughts and how nervous you get around me. I can hear you thinking about your feelings...if you like me and want something, ask me."

"Are you sure you want this, Wanda? Isn't the timing bad?"

"Steve, ask me."

"Wanda Maximoff, will you go out with me?"

"Yes." Wanda says, leaning up and giving Steve a kiss on the cheek.

Steve just smiles at Wanda and gives her a tighter hug. He cannot believe what just happened, and does not want to let her go anytime soon. After only a few minutes, the two are asleep, without any other worries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I get into their relationship fairly quickly, but I was eager!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is the day of Pietro's funeral, which is very hard on Wanda. She begins to reflect on her life and cannot help but feel somewhat alone in this world, missing her brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW!!: (mentions of) depression, self harm, suicide attempt

Wanda wakes up to find that Steve is no longer next to her. She sits up in bed and looks around, trying to see if Steve is in her room. Her eyes take a few minutes to adjust to the light, but once they do, she realizes that Steve is not there. Wanda steps out of bed and goes to the washroom, splashing some cold water on her face. She still cannot believe that the events of her brother's death took place, and she is still in denial that it has even happened. Wanda sighs though, trying her best to push her thoughts aside and, hopefully, move on. She wipes her face dry and gets changed into a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. 

Wanda then walks into the kitchen area to find that no one is there. She finds this odd, since the kitchen usually has at least one member of the team, but does not think too much about it. Not to mention that Wanda appreciates the quite and is not quite comfortable around all of the team members just yet. Wanda makes herself a cup of tea, listening to the nothingness around her. Just as her tea is ready, Steve walks into the kitchen. He is wearing a pair of black dress pants with a white button up shirt. He has a black suit jacket on his arm and is also holding onto a black tie in his hand. He places the jacket down on the back of a chair.

"Good morning, Wanda." Steve says. "How are you feeling today?"

"I've been worse, how are you?" Wanda smiles.

"I'm okay." Steve replies, as he starts to do up his tie.

Silence falls over the two of them, neither knowing what else to say at the moment. 

"What's with the suit?" Wanda asks. 

"Wanda...it's Pietro's funeral today..." Steve says, hesitantly.

Wanda stands in shock for a moment and then just shakes her head.

"I forgot about that." She says, taking a sip of tea while trying to hide her emotions.

"If you don't feel like going, you don't have to." Steve suggests. "I can even stay back with yo-"

"No, I'll come." Wanda says. "I have to go, seeing that I am Pietro's family and all. I need to go. I better get changed. I'll be out in 10."

Steve is about to ask Wanda once more if she would rather stay back, but she rushes out of the room. Steve sighs, but knows all he can do it respect Wanda's decision. He is going to make sure to be there for her because he knows that everything is going to be hard for her. Steve grabs his jacket and puts it on, then goes to wait for Wanda outside of her room. Meanwhile, Wanda goes into her room. As soon as the door is closed, she collapses on her bed. A feeling of complete numbness washes over her. She cannot cry any more and she does not even feel pain. She just feels numb, as if there is nothing there. There are no more emotions left inside. 

She gets up off her bed after only a few minutes, realizing that she needs to get ready to go. She goes to her closet to find something to wear. All of the clothes in the closet are from Nat, either some of Nat's clothes or clothes Nat bought specifically for Wanda, using Tony's credit card of course. After much debate, she puts on a simple black dress and a pair of black boots. She then goes to the washroom to get cleaned up. She fixes her hair, but does not even bother to try to put on makeup, lacking the motivation to do so and assuming she will just cry it off anyways. She then leaves her room and sees Steve is waiting right outside the room for her.

"Ready to go?" Steve asks.

Wanda just gives him a nod. Steve extends his hand out, taking Wanda's hand in his, as he leads her to the garage. Once they get there, the two head to a car. Steve opens the door for Wanda. She sits down and Steve closes the door. Then, he goes to sit in the driver's seat and begins driving, in complete silence. Steve wants to break the silence, but he is unsure what to say to try to comfort Wanda and thinks maybe she prefers the quiet. Meanwhile, Wanda is thinking about only dreadful things. She knows that there is quiet between her and Steve, but does not want to be the one to start a sad conversation.

Finally, they arrive. They exit the car and go to greet everyone. Wanda sees that there are a lot of people, some of which she has not ever seen before. She finds it odd that so many people would attend, even after they have called her and her brother criminals and had assumed that they were monsters. Just about everyone greets Wanda and says 'I'm sorry for your loss' or some sort of apology, as if they could have changed what happened. Wanda just nods at the comments that everyone makes, unsure how she is supposed to react. Wanda talks to so many new people and can barely remember half of their names.

She is just overwhelmed by the whole experience of this and wishes that Pietro was here. He always found some way to help her, and made sure she never had to face anything alone. Finally the service starts. Wanda sits between Steve and Clint. Steve holds Wanda's hand while Clint has his on her shoulder, the two trying to ensure that Wanda knows she is not alone. Wanda zones out pretty much at the start of the service. She does not want to focus on what is going on, and knows that is she does, she will begin to cry. That would be the last thing that she wants; to cry in front of everyone. Just then, Steve taps Wanda's shoulder, which causes her to look up at him.

"It's time for you to speak." Steve says, softly. "You still want to do that?"

"Yes." Wanda replies. "I'm okay to do that."

Wanda swallows hard as she stands up. She looks at Steve, who gives her a reassuring nod. Wanda nods back at him. Then, she walks up to the front and stands at the podium. She inhales and continues to look down, looking at the script she prepared. But she decides to not use that and just looks from the podium so she could see everyone. 

"Almost all of you didn't know Pietro." She starts. "Some of you had only just met him, but those of you did not know the Pietro I knew. He was nothing like what was said about him. He was strong, brave and yes, sometimes could be a pain in the ass. But that pain in the ass is my brother."

Wanda lets out a teary chuckle and then pauses, taking a moment to look around at everyone's expressions. 

"And I love him with every bit of my soul." Wanda continues. "After our parents died, we had nothing but each other, and a lot of the time Pietro was the one staying strong and taking care of me. He was so goo at watching out for me, and making sure I was okay. He never let me go through any pain alone and was always by my side, to help me. But now that he is gone, I have lost my best friend, my brother...my other half. I'm going to miss you, Piet...but I will never forget you, and I'll always love you." 

With that, Wanda feels her voice start to crack and tears start to form in the corners of her eyes. She quickly walks back to her seat, where she is greeted with one of Steve's hugs. He strokes her arm, hoping to calm her. Wanda rests her head on his chest and holds onto one of his hands. She stays like this for the rest of the service. When it is time for Pietro's burial, everything seems worse. Wanda can barely watch without letting out a few shaky breaths, trying to stop herself from bursting into tears. The funeral seems to last forever. As soon as it is over, Wanda goes straight back to Steve's car and sits in the passenger seat, waiting for him to come back. Tears start to fall down her cheeks.

"I'm an embarrassment." She mumbles to herself. "I'm fucking useless now. I can't do anything right anymore. Pietro, why did you have to leave me? Why did you have to die?"

Pietro's death only starts to sink in at this moment and Wanda is distraught. She does not know what to do anymore. Everything is gone. Pietro was her entire world after everything that they went through, but now she has lost the person she relied most on. She sees that Steve is coming and she quickly wipes the tears from her eyes, not wanting to cry in front of him yet again.

"Hey," Steve says, as he opens the door and sits in the car.

"Hi." Wanda replies. 

"You okay?"

"I guess." 

"I'm here if you need anything." 

"Steve, I think I'm just tired now...it's been a long day." 

"Yeah, of course." 

With that, the two start driving back in silence once more. 

\----

The two finally arrive back at the Avengers facility. Wanda tells Steve that she is going to her room, but Steve does not let her go alone. Instead, he walks Wanda to her room, wanting to make sure she is okay.

"If you need anything, I'm here, okay?" Steve says. 

"I know, Steve." Wanda says, going on her tip toes to give him a small kiss on the cheek. "Thanks. I think I am just going to rest up though." 

"Okay," Steve says.

A blush forms on the Captain's cheeks and Wanda cannot help but let out a small laugh. Wanda then goes into her room and closes the door behind her. The room is very empty still but she has some of the necessities as well as a few other things. She appreciates what she has, not needing anything more. Despite this though, nothing can ever fill the void. Wanda feels horrible and numb, but she searches through her drawers, trying to find something. As soon as she finds what she is looking for, flashbacks begin to flood her head. One of them is from when she was 14.

\----

_"Wanda, come on! We have to leave." Pietro says running to find his sister. "They're gonna find us."_

_At this point, the two are living in an abandoned house, hiding from child services. They fear that they will get spilt them up and put into the foster care system, which is the last thing they would need._

_"Wanda?" Pietro calls again._

_With no response, Pietro gets worried and goes looking around the house. He finally finds his sister sat in one of the empty rooms, crying quietly._

_"Wanda, what's wrong?" He asks._

_"Pietro I did this..." Wanda sobs._

_"What is it that you did, my sweet Sestra?"_

_"This" Wanda replies, showing her brother her arms with the abundance of scratches. "I want to be dead. I want to go be with mom and dad."_

_"Wanda," Pietro says, kneeling in front on his sister. "I love you very much and if you were to go, what would happen to me? I need you here, please. Mom and dad died but we aren't dead yet because we are supposed to be alive. We are supposed to do something greater with our lives. So you have to stay, Wanda. You need to not hurt yourself and you have to stay here with me."_

_"I'm sorry, Pietro." Wanda says._

_"It's okay." Pietro replies, pulling sister into a tight hug and letting her cry on his shoulder. "Just please stay with me."_

\----

Wanda remembers how her brother treated her, how he wanted to make sure she was okay. He was always reassuring her. He would do a lot to help her, a lot to show her that he cares. But now he is gone. Wanda feels alone. Steve is being nice to her and says he cares for her, yes, but it still does not replace Pietro. Wanda fears that Steve will leave and that he is just showing pity for her. 

"I will go to you, brother, if you will not stay here with me." Wanda says. 

\----

Steve finishes making some thing to eat and decides to bring Wanda some food. She has not eaten all day and she needs food too. Steve grabs a plate of the pasta he made and, walks to Wanda's room. He knocks at the door with his free hand.

"Wanda, may I come in?" Steve asks.

There is no response.

"Wanda? It's me, Steve." He says again.

Still no response.

"Wanda?" Steve says, once more.

There is no response, yet again, and Steve begins to worry. He turns the doorknob, opening the door slowly. His eyes dart around the room looking for her, but there is no sign of her anywhere. He puts the plate down on the dresser and goes to the bathroom door, knocking on it.

"Wanda?" He asks.

Once again, there is no response.

"Wanda, are you okay?" Steve asks.

With no response again, Steve gets extremely worried. He turns the nob only to find that the door is locked. Despite his worry though, he knocks again, gaining no response from Wanda. He pushes his body into the door until finally, it opens, although he has broken the lock. He looks on the ground only to find Wanda's body lying there, a bottle of pills open next to her and some blood pooling around her while some continues to drip from her arm.

"Someone! Someone help!" Steve yells, tears starting to fall from his eyes. 

Steve drops to the ground and pulls Wanda onto his lap. He grabs whatever towels are within his reach and tries to stop the bleeding of her arm with them. 

"Wanda, please." Steve sobs.

Natasha runs into the room after hearing Steve's cries. Once she sees that is going on, she dials 911 on her phone and tells F.R.I.D.A.Y. to ask Tony and Bruce if they can do anything. Both Tony and Bruce say they cannot do anything much and to just put pressure on the wound, until Wanda can get proper treatment. 

"Please, Wanda." Steve sobs, holding Wanda and putting pressure onto her wound.

The paramedics arrive quickly and Steve is a sobbing mess, covered in Wanda's blood. Yet he insists on going with the ambulance to the hospital. Natasha says that she will bring him a change of clothes and will follow, but Steve is not paying attention. All he can think about is Wanda. 

"You have to save her." Steve keeps saying over and over again to the paramedics.

Throughout the entire ride to the hospital, the paramedics try to calm Steve down and ease his mind while trying to work on Wanda. Finally, they arrive at the hospital and take Wanda to the ER immediately, telling Steve that he will have to stay it in the waiting room. Steve collapses to the ground, crying. He stays like this for a while, wondering why Wanda would do something like this and questioning why he did not insist to stay with her. Natasha arrives relatively quick and finds Steve kneeling on the ground. She gets Steve to sit on a chair and helps him calm down. Once Steve is not sobbing so hard, she suggests he gets changed, which he does.

Steve takes the bag of clothes from Nat and goes to the washroom. He changes into the black joggers and dark blue hoodie that was brought. Then, he puts the clothes he was originally wearing in the bag. He has a numb expression across his face as he goes back out to the waiting area. He stands in front of Nat. Nat stands up now and leads Steve to sit down before she sits next to him. She then takes the bag of clothes from him.

"Steve, are you okay?" Natasha asks, already knowing the answer. 

His cheeks are tear stained and his eyes are still red. He swallows hard, trying to stay calm, but just gets angry. He stands up now, too mad to even sit down.

"How could I be okay?" Steve asks. "Did you see what the girl did to herself? I could've stopped her. If I had just suggested I stay with her or if I had made her come with me to have something to eat earlier. If I had done anything! Why her? I can't even believe that! She's a kid. She deals with a lot of shit and I was not there to help her!"

Steve punches the wall that is next to him. 

"Nat, she's just a fucking kid!" Steve says, getting more and more frustrated as he punches the wall a few more times.

Knowing that Steve never swears, Nat begins to realize exactly how much Wanda really means to him.

"Steve, it isn't your fault." Nat says, reaching for Steve's hand.

Steve pulls his hand away from Nat. 

"We all really do care about Wanda," Nat continues. "But this is out of our control...it really is."

"Nat, I could have done more if I really tried." Steve says, beginning to cry again. 

Steve collapses to the ground, which brings Nat off of her chair. She kneels down next to Steve, wrapping her arms around him, cradling his head as he sobs into her shoulder.

"Steve," Nat says, softly. "You're okay. You cannot beat yourself up over this. And I am going to be here to help get you through everything."

Steve nods against Nat's shoulder as Nat runs her hand up and down the back of Steve's neck and head.

"Excuse me?" A voice says.

Both Steve and Nat look up to see the doctor standing there. The two stand up, quickly, Steve wiping his eyes.

"Yeah?" Steve says, becoming more attentive to what the doctor is going to say.

"We dealt with the pills first, and that is taken care of." The doctor starts. "She did lose a lot of blood though, but she'll be alright. She'll have to stay here for a few days but, she'll be okay."

"Thank you, doctor." Steve says. "Thank you! Can I go see here?"

"She isn't up yet but of course." 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve stays by Wanda's side.

Steve practically sprints into the room Wanda is in while Natasha follows behind him. He sees Wanda asleep on the bed looking so weak, drained and limp. Steve stares for a moment as he struggles to process this. Then, he takes a seat in the chair that is next to the bed and holds onto Wanda's hand. He slowly runs his thumb along the side of Wanda's hand and inhales sharply.

"I'm here now." Steve whispers, staring at Wanda.

The room goes back to being completely silent, to the point where you could hear a pin drop.

"Steve?" Nat says, finally breaking the quiet.

"Yeah?" Steve says, looking at Nat.

"I'll give you two some alone time, but if you want I can go back to base to get you anything you might need."

"I don't need anything, Nat. But go back to the base and tell everyone she'll be okay. Please. And you can just stay there. You don't have to worry. I will take care of her here. You just need to worry about taking care of yourself and getting some rest."

"But what about you? Someone has to take care of you, and you need to get some rest too,"

"Well, I'm not leaving."

"At least let me stay then, to keep you company. And took look out for you."

"Nat, just go back to base and get some rest. I'll be okay for tonight. Then, you can come back tomorrow. Okay?"

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" Nat asks, looking for an excuse to keep an eye out for Steve and now approaching him.

"I'm sure." Steve replies.

Nat now moves so she is next to Steve and running a hand through his hair.

"If I think of something that I need, I will let you know." Steve adds.

"Alright, fine." Nat says, giving in.

She knows that this is a lot to go through, and does not want Steve to face it alone. Despite this though, Nat decides that respecting Steve's wishes is the best option. The last thing she would want is to continue to insist and argue him. She feels like this could push him away, which could possibly lead to him not asking her for any help, or talking through any feelings. Steve smiles at Nat and nods, in approval of her choice. Then, Nat wraps her arms around Steve, letting him rest his head on her as she hugs him tightly. With one hand, she strokes his hair, which makes Steve smile. Steve wraps his arms around Nat, hugging her back. After a little while longer, Nat pulls away from the hug and gives Steve one last reassuring smile.

"Take care of her, and of yourself." Nat says. "And do not hesitate to call, for any reason!"

"Okay," Steve says. "And I won't."

Nat smiles and nods. She presses a kiss to the top of Steve's head, trying to reassure him further. Then, Nat turns and leaves the room. Steve continues holding onto Wanda's hand, tightly. He still cannot believe what happened and feels at fault.

"I'm sorry, Wanda." Steve says as he places a kiss on her hand.

After a while longer of sitting down and holding onto Wanda's hand, Steve feels his eyes become heavy. He tries to keep them open, but struggles to. He finally gives in though and decides to close his eyes for only a second. He hopes that when he opens them, he will be able to stay awake and watch over Wanda properly.

\----

Steve ends up staying asleep for longer than expected. When he feels Wanda's hand moving in his own, Steve's eyes instantly shoot open. He looks at Wanda, who is still lying on the bed in front of him, and sees that she is finally waking up. Steve sits up straight now, excited to see Wanda is awake.

"Wanda," Steve says, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "You're okay."

"Yeah, I guess I am." Wanda says, not sounding very happy.

"What is it?" Steve says, picking up on Wanda's tone. "What's wrong?"

"Steve, I can't live like this anymore." Wanda says, swallowing hard. "I have no one left here, and it hurts. I'm useless. I'm so useless. All I do is sit here and cry about how Pietro is gone and is never coming back. I just want to be with Pietro again. You all hate me, and you just pity me. That's why you decide to show me attention and affection. Don't even lie to me, Steve."

Silence falls over the conversation, but just for a moment.

"I'm tired of this," Wanda continues, tears forming in her eyes now. "I'm tired of everything. I just want everything to be normal. And by normal, I mean I want Pietro to be alive. He was so good at everything, he was always better than me when it came to being strong. Meanwhile, I can't even pull myself together."

"Wanda, don't speak like that." Steve says. "I love you, so much. You don't even understand. I care about you and I don't want you to feel like this. I am here for you whenever you need anything. If I didn't care about you, why would I be sat here? Wanda, yes, Pietro may be gone but don't you think he would want you to keep living?"

Steve pauses and places one of his hands on the side of Wanda's face, stroking his thumb along her cheek.

"Do it for him, Wanda." Steve says. "Keep living for Pietro. He would want you to be happy and not mourn about his death. You do not have to forget him but, do not be sad about his death. You have all of the Avengers who support you. And I promise you that I will do anything to make you happy because I love you, Wanda Maximoff. And if you do not believe me, go ahead and check. I am being honest."

Wanda stops crying, her pain almost seeming to melt away due to Steve opening up and wearing his heart on his sleeve. She does not even go into his mind to check, trusting him. After just a few more minutes, Wanda finally wraps her head around what just happened and what Steve said. She places her hands on Steve's cheeks and pulls him in for a kiss. A real kiss. The two press their lips together, for just a few moments, until Steve pulls away from Wanda with a smile across his face.

"I suppose that means you accept my speech?" Steve asks, chuckling.

Wanda smiles and gives him an elbow to the ribs.

"Shut up, you dummy." She says, moving over in the bed to make space for him. "Come here."

Steve stands up from his chair and moves to sit down next to Wanda in the bed. He puts his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. Wanda leans her head on Steve's chest, taking in his scent. It is a good scent and not from cologne. It is comforting and pleasant to Wanda and it calms her down. Steve plants a kiss on the top of Wanda's head.

"I'm sorry, Steve." Wanda says.

"There is nothing for you to be sorry for." Steve says.

"But there is. I am sorry for all of this."

"This? This is nothing for you to need to apologize for. Don't worry about it, at all. But I want you to know you are valued, needed and cared for, and we are going to work on this...because I want you to feel better and not do this again. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, you've had a busy few days, with everything that has been happening. I think it is best for you to get a little bit of sleep."

"I've been sleeping for a while though."

"Well, are you still tired?"

"Yes..."

"So wouldn't it be best for you to sleep?"

Wanda nods against Steve's chest as Steve smiles at her. She lets out a shaky breath as she closes her eyes and easily falls asleep in Steve's arms.

\----

Both Steve and Wanda have been asleep for a while. The only thing that manages to wake Steve is his phone ringing. He quickly, and carefully, takes it out of his pocket to see who is calling, while trying his best to not wake Wanda up. When he pulls the phone out, he finds that he is getting a call from Nat. He clicks the answer key on the phone.

"Hello?" Steve says, answering the phone.

"Hey, Steve," Nat says, sounding kind of sad.

"Yeah, Nat?" Steve replies. "What is it?"

"Well...she left...a note."

Steve stops for a moment, trying to process what Nat just told him. He swallows hard and inhales deeply.

"Steve?" Nat asks after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah, sorry Nat. Ummm..." Steve says, drawing a blank.

"I'll do something with it." Nat says. "Okay?"

"Okay."

"Don't worry, Steve. I've got this under control."

"Thanks."

"Of course. I just thought I would let you know, but now I realize it probably was not the best idea. Don't worry, I've got it taken care of."

"It's okay, Nat. I just...just am slightly...shocked, I guess."

"That's understandable, don't worry. I'll go take care of this."

"Okay. Bye, Nat."

"Bye Steve, give Wanda a hug from me."

"Okay, I will."

With that, Steve hangs up the phone and slips it back into his pocket. He looks down at Wanda, who is asleep but is clinging onto him tightly. He cannot help but let out a smile, knowing that she is okay. If she was not okay, well, Steve would not even know what to do! That is not what happened though and Wanda is fine. With that thought, Steve closes his eyes and falls asleep once again.

\----

Wanda wakes up after sleeping for a few hours more and finds Steve sleeping next to her. She sits up gently, not wanting to wake him up. She manages to sit up without waking the Captain and smiles at him. She is so grateful to have met him, and appreciates everything that he has done for her. Then, Wanda looks at her arm, which is all bandaged up. She hates the look of that, a lot. All she can think is that this will draw so much attention to her, especially if she were going to leave with this on. The last thing she wants is for people to stare. She finds the end of the bandage and starts to unwrap it, attempting to take it off of her arm.

"What are you doing?"

She jumps at the sound of the voice, but realizes that it was Steve who had startled her.

"Sorry," Steve says. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Steve, don't worry." Wanda says, slowly continuing to remove the bandage.

"Wanda, why are you taking that off?"

Wanda stops what she is doing as the room now seems to go completely silent. She makes eye contact with him now, not wanting to respond to his question and instead waiting for him to say more.

"You just got stitched up, Wanda, and you need to heal." Steve replies, his voice full of concern.

"It looks stupid, Steve." Wanda replies.

"Wanda, I'd rather it look stupid and heal than not heal at all."

Steve takes one of Wanda's hand in his own. He laces his fingers with hers. Then, he brings her hand to his lips and places a soft kiss on it.

"But Steve, people are going to look and they will ask questions." Wanda says, swallowing hard.

"I know, but it has to heal." Steve replies, placing another kiss on Wanda's hand. 

"But I don't want anyone to see it."

Steve sighs as he looks at Wanda. It pains him to see her not wanting to take care of herself and do what is best for her because of what others might do or say.

"How about I make a deal with you?" Steve suggests.

"What's the deal?" Wanda asks.

"You let this thing heal properly, and follow all the doctor's orders, which includes not taking off the bandages, and I'll go to the store right now and get ice cream for you."

"What flavour of ice cream?"

"Any flavour you want."

"Deal."

"And which flavour would you like?"

"Hmmm...I'll go with cookie dough and...I'll also take chocolate."

"The deal wasn't two."

"But you'll still get me two?"

"No way!"

"Please!"

"I'm just kidding. I'll get you whatever you want! Now just wait here, I'll be back in 5."

With that, Steve stands up. He gives Wanda a kiss on the top of her head and runs out the door. She can only laugh a little at the thought of having Steve running around for her. Just then, Wanda's thoughts are interrupted by a phone ringing. Wanda finds that it is Steve's cell phone, which is buried in the bedsheets, and sees that the call is from Natasha. She answers it.

"Hi, Nat." Wanda says.

"Hey, Wanda." Nat says, sounding quite excited. "How are you?"

"Better. What about you?"

"Well, I am glad to hear that. I am doing not bad myself. I was just calling to check up on you and Steve. Speaking of which, where is Steve?"

"Well, he went to go get some ice cream for me."

"Of course he did. The guy loves you! He'll do anything for you."

Wanda lets out a laugh.

"I'm not joking, Wanda." Nat says. "After Steve first met you, he had that look on his face as if he had just fallen in love. The 'I've got a crush' look. His eyes light up when he sees you."

"Woah, I'm definitely going to have to hold that against him."

"Maybe you'll get more ice cream out of it."

As if on cue, Steve jogs into the room.

"Hey, Wanda." Steve says.

"Woah, Golden Boy is back already?" Nat says over the phone, hearing Steve over the line. "He must not want to leave from you side!"

This earns a small laugh from Wanda.

"I'm assuming that is Nat." Steve says.

"You have assumed correctly." Wanda says, handing Steve the phone.

Steve talks to Nat for only a few minutes, cutting the conversations short, and then hangs up.

"You didn't seem to want to talk to her much." Wanda says.

"No, I just didn't want the ice cream to melt." Steve admits.

Steve sits down where he was sitting before, on the bed next to Wanda. He then pulls out the two containers of ice cream followed by two spoons he had gotten.

"Thanks, Steve." Wanda says. "Love you."

"You love me or do you just love that I brought you ice cream?"

"A little bit of both," Wanda replies, which earns a small chuckles from Steve.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda comes home from the hospital and the team is happy to have her back.  
> Tony has some important news.

The next few days pass quickly, with Steve continuing to keep Wanda company. Over those days, some of the other Avengers come by to spend some time with Wanda but, Steve is the one who to stay with her the entire time. As soon as the doctor takes the stitches out of Wanda's arm, he says that she is good to go and for her to can come back if the cut is not healing right. Steve asks the doctor a few questions about how to take care of Wanda's cut, which include how long it will take it to heal and what can be done to make the healing process quicker. The doctor answers his questions. Steve then smiles at the doctor and thanks him for all that he has done. The doctor then smiles and nods at Steve. The doctor replies, saying that it is nothing to worry about, then leaves the room.

Steve picks up his phone and texts Nat, asking if she can come pick them up. Within seconds, Nat responds, saying that she will be there shortly. Steve slips his phone into his pocket before turning his attention back to Wanda, who is gathering the last of her things.

"Nat will be here soon to pick us up." Steve says, helping Wanda finish packing up.

"Sounds good to me." Wanda says, smiling in Steve's direction.

Once they pack everything up, Steve, being the gentleman that he is, grabs the duffle bags, slinging them over his shoulder. Steve grabs Wanda's hand in one of his and the two walk outside. They find a bench outside and sit there, waiting for Nat. Nat arrives within a few minutes and pulls the car up in front of them. Steve grabs the bags and walks towards the back of the car. He opens the trunk and then the bags inside. Meanwhile, Nat exits the car and goes over to Wanda, who is standing next to the car. 

"Wanda!" Nat say, smiling at her.

"Hey, Nat," Wanda smiles back.

Nat wraps her arms around Wanda, giving her a tight hug.

"It's so good to see you!" Nat adds. 

"Likewise, Romanoff." Wanda releases Nat from the hug.

"Shall we get going?" 

Wanda nods just as Steve comes over to the side of car. Nat goes around and sits in the drivers seat while Steve opens the backseat car door for Wanda. He lets her get in first before he goes in as well, sitting next to her and closing the door once they are both inside. 

"Well, would you look at this?" Nat says. "The newest couple is here."

"Nat, stop it." Steve says.

"Now why would I do that, Steve?" Nat laughs.

"Okay enough about you! How are you doing Wanda?"

"I'm okay, but this is going to leave a scar." Wanda says, pulling up here sleeve to reveal the already partially white mark that is on her arm.

"Wanda, we've all got a few scars." Nat says. "Just don't decide to do whatever it is that you did again, because all of us care about you very much. Okay?"

"Nat, you sound like a mother." Wanda laughs.

"Yeah, well, I have to make sure you understand not to do that again."

"If I say okay, will you stop?"

"Yes."

"Well in that case, okay."

They drive back, making only light conversation with each other. Once they arrive back at the base, the three go inside. As soon as they walk in the door and go up to the main lobby of the living corridors, the rest of the Avengers are standing there. They have gifts, a banner which reads 'Welcome Back Wanda' and there is even a cake for some reason. Everyone comes over to Wanda, greeting her with hugs and saying how much they missed her while she was gone. Some also decide to fill her in on some of the events that took place while she was gone, which includes Thor freaking out on Tony for finishing off the last of his PopTarts and refusing to buy him anymore.

"Thanks guys." Wanda says with a smile, once everyone has quieted down. "It means a lot to me."

"Well, it wasn't a big deal honestly." Clint says, giving Wanda a hug. "We gotta make sure that you're all good, don't we?"

Wanda smiles at Clint, thanking him for everything he has done. Then, everyone sits down and has some cake for this make-shift welcome back party. Everyone insists that Wanda looks through all of the gifts, although she insists that she does not need any. Finally, after arguing for too long, Wanda gives in and opens the gifts. Everyone just seemed to have pooled together money, which was just using all of Tony's money, to buy Wanda a bunch of things that they though she would like.

Some of the many gifts she receives includes a new black leather jacket, a pair of black converse (which she has wanted every since she was 14), some new leather bracelets, new rings and a simple silver necklace. She just smiles and continues to thank everyone, telling them that they did not need to buy her all of the gifts. They insist that they did though. Wanda brings everything she has gotten to her room and then meets the Avengers back in the den to watch a movie.

She takes a seat next to Steve as everyone else argues about which movie they will be watching. Finally, Nat just starts playing _Grease_ , the romance musical movie that was super popular back in the 70s and 80s.

"Why would you put this on, Nat?" Clint whines.

“Well, our new couple needs to watch some sort of romance movie." Nat says.

Steve lets out a sigh and just shakes his head, knowing that the teasing from his friends has just begun. Wanda just smirks at Steve, seeing how frustrated he is with his friends. She then turns back to pay more attention to the movie. Back in Sokovia, Wanda never really had the chance to watch movies. This movie though, Wanda finds quiet interesting. Although she does not like all of the singing too much because it is unrealistic, she thinks the plot and storyline are pretty good, except for the message that the movie gives; girls should change themselves in order to be what boys want.

Once the movie finishes, everyone decides to call it a night and goes back to their rooms, leaving Wanda and Steve sitting on the couch.

"Thoughts on the movie?" Wanda asks Steve.

"The songs are pretty catchy." Steve says.

"The singing part is so unrealistic!"

"That's what makes it a musical, Wanda."

"Yeah but still!"

"Come on, Wanda."

“No, I refuse to agree."

Steve clears his throat and starts humming the tune of one of the songs in the movie, making Wanda shake her head.

"I got chills They're multiplyin' And I'm losin' control Cause the power You're supplyin' It's electrifyin'." Steve sings, not so horribly.

Wanda laughs.

"Come on Wanda, just this once." Steve says with a smile.

"No way!" Wanda laughs.

“Fine Wanda, be like that." Steve teases. "Next time you want ice cream, see what happens."

"Fine I will, Steve." Wanda says, still being stubborn and not giving in.

Steve gives Wanda a glare as he lies down with his head on her lap.

"Loser." She mumbles to Steve.

"Did you just call me a loser?" Steve says, seeming shocked.

"But you're my loser." She says, running a hand through his hair.

"Is that your way of saying that you love me?" Steve questions.

"Yes it is."

Steve just lets out a small laugh as he gives Wanda a kiss on the cheek. It does not take much longer for the couple to curl up on the couch, getting more comfortable, and putting on another movie.

——

"Steve?" Nat says.

Steve's eyes flutter open as Nat shakes him, trying to wake him up. It takes him a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to the light. Once he does, he realizes that he is lying on the couch with Wanda, who is asleep. The last thing that he remembers is watching some movies with Wanda, so he assumes that they must have fallen asleep there.

Steve blinks a few times and rubs his eyes, looking at Nat. He is thankful that Nat is the one to find them. If it had been one of the other Avengers, especially if it were Tony, there would most likely be endless teasing and the entire team would know about it. Not to mention that there would be extremely obscure rumours being spread.

"Yeah?" Steve says, finally answering Nat.

"There's something you're going to want to hear, and see." Nat says.

"What is it?"

"I can't say. Just...just come with me and Tony will explain. And just so you know, it was all his idea. I did not know about this until today."

Reluctantly, and slowly, Steve gets up from the couch, trying his best to not wake Wanda. He then grabs a blanket from one of the other couches and puts it over Wanda, covering her completely. He follows Nat, who leads Steve to the offices, in particular to Tony's office. The two go inside the office and find Tony, seated at the desk.

"Go ahead and tell him." Nat says to Tony.

"Wait, are we sure that Lover Boy here can handle this information?" Tony asks.

"Shut the hell up and tell me." Steve says, getting a little bit mad about the nickname but mostly just wanting to know what is so important.

"Okay well, let's just say, hypothetically, that when we buried Pietro it wasn't actually Pietro?" Tony says, phrasing it more as a question rather than a statement.

"What do you mean?" Steve shakes his head, in confusion.

"What if it was just an empty coffin and, let's just say, hypothetically, that Pietro is really in South Korea with a doctor?"

"Tony, are you saying that you've given away Pietro to be a lab rat?"

"No, not at all, Cap. Dr. Cho may have said that she might be able to revive that annoying little speedster. She said that due to his quickness, everything is faster for him. So not only can he run faster and not only does he has a quicker metabolism, but his healing process would be faster and all...so I may have given her permision to give it a try."

"And why are we being told this now ?"

"Because it worked, and he's in a coma now. But his vitals are good. And maybe if we can get Wanda into his head, she can wake him up but, if she ends up killing him then we are back to square one."

Steve rubs his face, a little overwhelmed by what he is being told.

"Tony, why the hell would you keep this from everyone?" Steve says getting frustrated.

"I didn't want to get Wanda's hopes up." Tony says. "If it didn't work out, she would be heart broken again and she would hate me even more than she already does."

"Well, would you look at that, you really do care." Steve says. "Or maybe it is just because you cannot stand the though of people hate you."

"Actually, lots of people hate me, Steve. And I don't mind it. In fact, I love that people hate me."

"Oh yes, of course, because the all powerful Iron Man must be able to have enemies. Just admit it Tony, you can't stand the thought of an Avenger, someone on the team, hating you."

"Aw, precious Cap trying to make me the bad guy to stand up for his girlfriend."

"You know what Tony?" Steve steps closer to Tony, this comment making him mad.

Nat notices this and takes a step between Tony and Steve, trying to make them stay away from each other so they do not kill one another.

"Do I know what?" Tony questions, standing up to try and meet Steve's eye level.

"Shut up." Steve snarls, as Nat tries to push Steve and Tony away from each other.

"How about you both shut up?" Nat says. "You're both acting like children."

Both Steve and Tony turn to Nat, in almost shock about what she said.

"Steve, Tony meant well." Nat says. "He didn't want to get Wanda's hopes up about her brother and then have her get over it again. And of course he doesn't want her to hate him. She is on the team now and in order for this team to work, everyone should get along. He is trying to do a good thing here."

Nat sighs and then turns to Tony.

"As for you," Nat continues. "It was not great that you kept it from everyone. It is quite disrespectful that you did not tell Wanda, seeing that Pietro is the only family that Wanda has left. Steve is right about that. Now both of you apologize to each other."

There is silence for a moment.

"I'm sorry." Steve says. "I know you meant well. I just...I just got mad because Pietro is very important to Wanda, and this is a big deal. She would want to know that her brother is still alive. But I can also see where you are coming from, not wanting Wanda to get upset again."

"I'm sorry too, Steve." Tony says. "I get it, you care about her and you are only worried. It is a big deal about bringing Pietro back, and I shouldn't've kept it to myself. It's your call what we do next. If you think it is too much pressure to put on her, we can just wait it out. Pietro does have enhanced healing, so he will probably be able to get out of the coma sooner anyways."

"I'm going to tell her." Steve says. "It is only right, this is her brother we are talking about."

"Fair enough."

"She deserves to know. And I refuse to keep secrets, especially something like this, from her. Then she can decide whether or not to try using her powers."

"I get it, Steve."

With that, Steve leaves the room, slightly shocked about what he has been told still. He goes back to sitting on the couch next to Wanda, who is still sleeping, and decides that he will wait there to tell her the news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! Hopefully you liked that!! I think I am going to start writing notes at the end, maybe?   
> I don’t know. Anyways hopefully you liked that!!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve tells Wanda what has happened. Wanda decides what she will do. What will she choose to do?

Steve must have been sitting next to Wanda for just under an hour when she finally wakes up. The entire time he was waiting, Steve was trying to find a way to phrase what he is going to stay. He still has not thought of the perfect way of saying it, but thinks that he has found one way of saying it that it okay. 

"Steve?" Wanda says, in her half asleep morning voice.

"Yes?" Steve asks, turning towards her to give her his full attention.

"I want hugs." Wanda says, sitting up and opening her arms for a hug while smiling at Steve.

Steve just smiles at her and pulls her in for a hug. He lies down on his back on the couch which allows Wanda to put her head against his chest. Wanda cannot help but smile a little bit bigger. She is happy to have Steve apart of her life, and she is glad to have met him, although it was under such unfortunate circumstances.

"Ok Wanda, we should probably get up." Steve says, trying to sit up. 

"No Steve, I wanna stay here." Wanda replies.

"Well, I have to tell you something though." Steve says, sitting up but still having Wanda lean against his chest.

"Just tell me now."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Your brother is alive."

That is not the way that Steve expected to say it, but it just slipped out that way so he just has to go with it. Wanda instantly sits up on the couch.

"Pietro is alive?" Wanda questions.

"Yeah," Steve says. "Tony just told me this morning. He sent Pietro to Dr. Helen Cho and she managed to help him. He's there now. But the only thing is, he's in a coma. Tony was thinking you might be able to use your powers to get him out of the coma, but the choice is yours."

The two sit in silence for a moment, Wanda still trying to wrap her head around what she was just told. She is in disbelief that Pietro is still alive.

"Why couldn't I feel him with my telepathy?" Wanda asks. "I was always able to feel his presence."

"Umm.." Steve starts. "I'm not sure. But he is alive. Maybe it is because of the coma?"

Wanda nods, accepting Steve's answer and seeing it as a valid possibility.

"I want to help." Wanda says. "I want to get him back."

"But it is not for sure going to work."

"But it gives us a chance at helping to get Pietro back, correct?"

"Correct, but it might not work, which is why Tony was hesitant in telling you. He did not want you to get your hopes up and then have this all not work. The choice is yours though. Whatever you decide to do, we will do."

"Steve, I want to go help Pietro, or at least try to. I appreciate the concern but I will be doing this."

"Okay."

"We leave now though, I want to get there as soon as possible."

"Right now?"

"Yes...that is okay, right?"

"I am sure it is. I just need to ask Tony what was arranged. Also, is it okay if I tell Nat that she can come?"

"Of course it is. She's always welcome."

"Can I come?" Clint says, walking into the room eating a sandwich. "Sorry I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just over heard about Pietro being alive and, well, I would like to come if that is okay."

"Of course it is." Wanda says.

Steve gets up from the couch and goes to find Nat. Then, the four get ready to go. As soon as they are all ready, they are off to South Korea.   
\----  
After hours of flying there, the group finally arrives at Dr. Cho's lab. They are greeted by one of her assistants. The assistant brings them to Dr. Cho, who has been expecting them after receiving a call from Tony. Dr. Cho says her hellos to the group and chats with them for a few minutes before getting into business.

"Are you ready, Miss. Maximoff." Dr. Cho says, turning to Wanda.

Wanda just smiles and nods.

"You are able to use your powers and you have done this before, correct?" Dr. Cho asks.

"Similar things, correct." Wanda says. "I have only ever gone into someone's mind while they were alive...never when they were like this."

"Pietro is alive, though. But his brain is just...off. Just try your best. Use your...mind powers...and get into Pietro's head, to wake him up. And if it is done correctly, I believe that it will be able to help Pietro significantly, possibly even bringing him awake now. We just want to try to get some brain activity though." 

Wanda nods and smiles. She is unsure if she likes what Dr. Cho referred to her powers, because she feels that it makes her seem like a monster and feels as if people fear her because of what she can do. She worries that she will never be seen as a normal person and she will never be able to lead a normal life, although being an Avenger is hardly a normal life to lead. Wanda follows Dr. Cho into one of the rooms. As soon as she walks in, she sees Pietro's body there, lying on top of the bed. She smiles a little bit because she is seeing her brother again, but the smile fades quickly. She does not want to get her hopes too high in case it is a failure. Wanda closes her eyes and focuses on what she is about to do. 

Steve watches from outside the room, starting to feel anxious. He starts pacing and decides it is best to not pay attention to what is going on. He does not want to create so much stress from Wanda or himself. Steve finally decides to take a seat, so that he will not be anxiously pacing the hall. He sits next to Nat, who is seated next to Clint.

"Steve, you seem tense. You okay?" Nat asks, noticing Steve's anxiety and putting a hand on Steve's arm.

"I'm worried." Steve admits. "What if it doesn't work? What if Pietro just ends up dying...again? What can I do? I can't fill that void for her. And I am not sure if she can handle the loss. I have already been trying as hard as hell to help her forget but she never will."

"Steve, she's not going to forget Pietro, he's her brother."

"I know, but I meant that I was trying to make her forget about his death, and just keep him as a happy memory. I want her to be able to move on and be okay."

"It's just going to take time for her to move on, Steve. Pietro was the last of her family and they were very closer. But she is strong, she will be able to get through anything."

"Plus, she has you to help her." Clint says. "You have made a real difference for her, I can tell you that."

"I guess, yeah." Steve admits.

Meanwhile, in the room, Pietro sits up.

"Where am I? What happened?" Pietro shouts at Dr. Cho. "Where's Wanda?"

"I'm right her." Wanda says as Pietro turns to look at her.

"Wanda!" Pietro shouts.

Pietro wraps his arms around Wanda, hugging her tightly. Wanda smiles against him as she starts crying at the sight of Pietro awake, alive and okay. She cannot believe that he is here and has to rubs her eyes a few times, partly because she cannot believe it and partly to wipe away the tears.

"Pietro, you idiot," Wanda finally mumbles. "You can't just go off and die like that on me!"

"I'm sorry Wanda, I did not mean to. But I wasn't thinking about anything except for the fact that I had to save the old man." Pietro says, referring to Clint. "I remember what it was like when we lost mom and dad, and I didn't want that to happen to his family."

"But you never knew he had a family when you sacrificed yourself..." Wanda stutters.

"But I just knew that he had a family." Pietro says. "It was a gut feeling! But let's not talk about me dying, though. I am back now and that is all that matters, my sister."

"Pietro, you are an idiot." Wanda says, with a light laugh.

Pietro releases Wanda from the hug as he rolls his eyes. Wanda gives Pietro a light punch to the arm.

"Love you too, Wanda." Pietro chuckles, running his hand along Wanda's back.

"Steve, Nat and Clint are all here too."

"Where are they?" Pietro asks.

"Umm...waiting outside the room, I think." 

"I'll go get them." Dr. Cho says, walking out of the room.

"So how have you been?" Pietro asks, releasing Wanda from the hug but leaving one arm around her.

"Not good, at all." Wanda replies. "How are you Pietro?"

"Way better now that I am back here with you."

"What was it like...?"

"What was what like?"

"Dying..."

"I don't really want to talk about that, Sestra. I want to keep the conversation happy. I am back and I am here now, and that's all that matters." 

Pietro and Wanda share a teary-eyed smile with each other just as Seve walks in with Clint and Nat. The three of them all look surprised, and happy, to see that Pietro is up. Clint is the first to approach Pietro and both of them have a grin across their faces. 

"Look who's up!" Clint says, jokingly.

"Bet you didn't see that coming." Pietro laughs.

Clint lets out a small chuckle as he puts a hand on Pietro's shoulder, and smiles.

"I'm glad that you're okay." Clint says. "It's good to have you back, kid."

"I'm glad to be back, old man." Pietro says. "The only reason I am back is so I can ruin your life."

"Ha ha, very funny speedster."

Pietro just smirks as the conversation dies off, leaving everyone in silence.

"So, what has my sister been up to since I've been gone?" Pietro asks.

Both Clint and Nat instantly turn to Steve, waiting from him to respond to Pietro. Steve gives them both a look, as if telling them to respond, but neither of them do. Nat raises an eyebrow in Steve's direction, further trying to prompt him to answer Pietro's question.

"Why don't you tell him, Steve?" Nat suggests, pushing Steve to give Pietro an answer.

"Not too much." Steve starts.

Pietro continues to look at Steve, expecting him to say more.

"She's made herself at home back at the Avengers base, where you are more than welcome to stay." Steve says. "Right now, she is still in the process of decorating her room and reorganizing everything. We have all been helping her out with that. There has been a bit of light training but, not very much. All in all though, everyone is thrilled to have her and, they will all be really happy to see you back."

"Sounds good to me, Cap!" Pietro says, instantly standing up. "Let's go now!"

"Calm down there, Pietro." Nat says. "It probably isn't a good idea for you to be standing up right now."

"Why not?" Pietro questions.

"You just got out of a coma, maybe take it easy for a few minutes. Take a seat for now and then Dr. Cho can come by. It is probably a good idea for her to make sure you are doing okay."

"I'll be fine."

"Pietro..." Nat says, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, okay! I am sitting down." Pietro replies.

He takes a seat in the edge of the bed, slightly intimidated by Nat. He knows that she is right though. Getting checked out is probably a good idea, just to make sure he is in the best condition possible. The last thing that he wants is for something bad to happen to him and to leave Wanda again. Nat goes to find Dr. Cho and within a few minutes, the two arrive back in the room.

"I feel fine," Pietro says as Dr. Cho starts taking his vitals. "I'm able to stand, and I am breathing and my heart it beating. I am just a tad hungry but, otherwise I am feeling great."

"Well," Dr. Cho replies, finishing up her assessment. "Your health is impeccable, Mr. Maximoff. Your vitals are great, and I do not see any problems. If you do happen to feel unwell though, please let me know and I will get you checked out. As for now, you are free to go."

"Perfect." Clint smiles. "Let's get going then."

With that, the 5 are headed back to the Avenger's base, with Wanda smiling the entire time at the return of her brother and, Pietro not letting Wanda out of her sight.


	8. Chapter 8

The flight back to the base is pretty quiet. Wanda and Pietro sit next to each other. Wanda is overjoyed to have Pietro back, and refuses to let him out of her sight after everything that they have been through. Pietro feels the same and is so happy to be back with his sister. When everyone arrives back at the Avenger's base, Pietro receives greetings from everyone. They all welcome him back and try to catch him up to speed on any sort of funny events that have happened, which they assume he would find entertaining. Through all of the commotion of everyone greeting her brother, Wanda manages to get out of being the center of attention. She sees Tony is standing rather far away from the large crowd of Avengers, whom are all gathered around Pietro. She is not sure why, since Tony was the one who decided to bring Pietro back and everything that happened was his idea. Wanda decides to go over to him, to ask him why he is isolating himself.

"Hey," She says, approaching Tony with a smile.

"Hi." He says, slightly shocked that Wanda has come over to him.

"Why don't you go over to Pietro and tell him this was all your idea?" 

"He won't believe me. Plus, you two don't like me that much anyways."

"Tony, we didn't like you because we thought that what had happened all those years ago was on purpose. We were mad and assigned the blame to you. We know that it was an accident now and it was not your fault. Everything was just a misunderstanding. Plus, once you tell Pietro that you are the one who thought of the idea to bring him back, he'll thank you."

"What about you?"

"I would like to thank you for what you did. Steve told me mostly everything and I understand why you would have decided to keep it from me. I appreciate that you were concerned, but now I'm just extremely thankful that you brought Pietro back. Honestly, him and I...we still need each other, very much."

"It's no big deal. I figured that this would have been the best choice. I am just glad that you're happy to have him back."

"Now, go tell Pietro about how this whole thing was your idea."

"If you really want me to, I guess I'll go."

Wanda smiles and gives Tony a small hug to show her appreciation. This takes Tony by surprise, but he puts an arm around Wanda, unsure of what he is supposed to do. Once Wanda releases him from the hug, she gestures for him to go over to Pietro now. Tony sighs and he walks over to Pietro with Wanda.

"Pietro?" Wanda says.

"Yeah?" Pietro replies.

"I just thought that it would be best for you to know, it was Tony's idea to bring you back."

Pietro looks over at Tony. Of course he is very happy to be back, with his sister most importantly, but he is just shocked that it was Tony's idea. He does not expect that Tony even wanted him back. He was almost 100% sure that Tony would have killed him just for the fun of things!

"Well, thank you Tony." Pietro says, smiling. "Thank you very much. I honestly did not see that coming. But, I am grateful to be back. As you probably know, my sister...she needs me still. I know she does. And I really do have to be there to take care of her, and more importantly, I need to be here to give her someone to babysit."

"I am just happy to help." Tony replies.

Tony smiles at Pietro, shocked by what he has said. He did not expect the Maximoffs to be so appreciative of what he did. He had thought that they would still hate him for what happened to their parents and home when they were younger. Maybe the twins were not as bad as they were made to be. Wanda decides let Tony and Pietro talk while shegoes to find Steve. She goes over to him and grabs him by the wrist. Then, she leads him to a room, where no one is. She needs to tell him something, important, but cannot let the others hear. Well, maybe it would be okay for some of the others to hear, but even then it is best for Wanda to just keep it between her and Steve.

"What is it Wanda?" Steve asks as Wanda closes the door to the room.

"I just have to tell you something." Wanda replies.

"What do you need to tell me?"

"It's just that I don't know how Pietro is going to react if he finds out about...us. He's very protective of me, just in case you haven't noticed."

"I know he is, and it is not always a bad thing."

"Yes, I know. It just means that he cares."

"Exactly."

"But can we just keep our relationship, whatever it is, a secret for a while?"

"If that's what you want, then that is perfectly fine with."

"Thanks, Steve." Wanda smiles.

She places a hand on Steve's cheek and pulls him in for a kiss. Steve smiles into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Wanda. She pulls away from the kiss after a few minutes.

"You know that means no spontaneous hugs, right?" Steve asks.

"I know." Wanda lets out a sigh of disappointment.  "And I think I am going to miss that a lot."

"Then you might have to tell him sooner!"

"I have a plan, to try to get Pietro to start dating though, so he has another girl to watch over."

"Good idea." Steve places one more kiss on Wanda's lips.

"Steve, no spontaneous kisses either." Wanda laughs.

"This is going to be hard." Steve replies. "If you want a hug, just ask me though."

"Steve..."

"But we can sneak some in! Or leave the room for a minute so we can hug, and then come back."

"Steve..."

"I know, I'll stop." Steve whines.

Wanda laughs and places one final kiss on Steve's cheek before the two leave the room and go back to the group of Avengers, reluctantly. They would have rather stayed in the room together so they could enjoy the company of each other instead of staying with everyone else. They end up finding the entire team sitting in the screening room, watching a movie. Steve and Wanda take a seat on the empty couch, next to one another.

"Hey, does anyone want to get some quick training in?" Steve asks.

"Steve, are you crazy?" Nat says. "No one wants to train."

"But it would just be some light training. Anyone up for it?"

There is silence from everyone else. Even sitting there in the dark, Steve knows that everyone is looking at him wondering why the hell he would be asking such a question.

"I'll go..." Wanda says, once she realizes that no one else wants to take Steve up on his offer. "I'm not to interested in this movie."

"See Nat?" Steve says, turning the her. "There is someone who wants to train."

"Your loss, Wanda." Nat says, rolling her eyes playfully. "Or is it your win?"

Wanda shakes her head in Nat's direction, realizing that the assassin has a smirk across her face.

"Well, have fun with that Wanda." Pietro adds, letting out a small laugh.

"I will, Piet." Wanda replies with a smile.

With that, Wanda and Steve both stand up and leave the screening room. They first go to their own rooms, to change into some proper workout entire, since they did leave to go train. Wanda quickly changes into a grey tank top and a pair of black sweatpants pair with some black and white training runners. Meanwhile, Steve has changes into a pair of black shorts with a white tank top and black shoes. He then heads to the training room. When he walks into the training room, he finds Wanda is already waiting for him inside. Steve gives her a little smile, which causes her to smile back at him. He closes the door behind him.

"Well, would you look who already gave in." Wanda says, laughing at Steve.

"And what exactly would I be giving in to?" Steve asks.

"You can't deal with not being able to show me any kind of affection."

"Now Wanda, you are wrong about that." Steve laughs. "I just wanted to get some training in. It has been a while since I have been able to do any kind of proper training."

Wanda smiles at Steve, still not convinced of his story.

"Oh Steve, do you really think I'm that clueless?" Wanda laughs.

With that, Wanda rests one of her hands on Steve's cheeks. She pulls him into a kiss. Steve puts his arms around her.

"Yeah," Steve replies. "I guess you were right."

Steve gives Wanda a little smirk.

"I know, I'm always right." Wanda says, pressing her lips against Steve's once more.

"What the hell are you two doing?" A voice says from directly behind them.

Both Wanda and Steve let go of each other, trying to distance themselves from each other. They then look to see who has walked in and find that it is Pietro. He is standing at the doorway with his arms crossed, not looking very impressed.

"That lasted all of 5 minutes, Rogers." Wanda says, only loud enough for Steve to hear.

"Sorry." Steve whispers back, in response to Wanda.

"Wanda, explain to me right now what is going on." Pietro says.

"Pietro," Wanda starts. "Steve and I are kind of trying something out. We are dating, or seeing what happens. I was going to tell you in a little while because you just came back today and I did not want you to worry about all of this, because sometimes you can get a little bit protective."

Wanda pauses, assuming that Pietro would want to say something to her.

"Now, are you going to act over protective about this?" Wanda asks, still waiting for Pietro's reaction. "Because you don't have to. Steve is a good person. And he is nice, funny, kind and just overall good. He really is. While you were gone, he has really been helping me out with everything."

Pietro looks over at Steve, as if he is examining him. Steve swallows hard, unsure of what Pietro is thinking about him. He should not be worried about this, but he is because he just wants to make sure Pietro likes him, or at least does not completely hate him.

"I really have been trying to help her." Steve says, feeling obligated to say something. "And I do care about her a lot."

"I believe you." Pietro says. "I believe both of you."

Pietro walks over to Steve, a smile now going across his face. This makes Steve untense and feel like now, maybe Pietro does trust him with Wanda.

"Don't hurt my sister, Cap." Pietro says, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder. "I am trusting you to take care of her and to support her."

"I won't hurt her, Pietro." Steve smiles. "I promise I won't. She means so much to me, I promise she is in good hands, Pietro."

Silence falls over the room for a moment.

  
"Now, Steve, I have just one question for you." Pietro finally says.

"Ask away." Steve replies, feeling confident that he will be able to answer Pietro's question.

"What is your favourite thing about my sister?"

What is my favourite thing about your sister? Steve thinks to himself.

His mouth falls open, as if he is going to say something, but he closes it. He thinks that this might be a trick question of some kind, or a test, but he is not sure how it would be. So Steve figures that the best thing to do would be to answer Pietro's question honestly. He begins to think about what his favourite thing about Wanda is, but cannot chose because of all of Wanda's amazing qualities. His favourite thing about her is everything. Wanda is just overall amazing and perfect. Steve cannot just pick one thing about her that stands out because as a person, Wanda stands out. And that is the answer that Steve decides to go with.

"I can't just say one thing, because everything about her is my favourite." Steve says. "I love everything about her, Pietro. One thing does not stand out to me because she stands out as a person."

Pietro smiles and nods, seeming satisfied in Steve's answer.

"I trust you." Pietro says. "You are a good man, Steve. Take good care of her."

Pietro gives Steve a final smile before he dashes out of the room. This leaves Wanda standing there, smiling and blushing more than she has ever in her entire life. 


	9. Chapter 9

After taking a minute to gather his thoughts about what just happened, Steve looks over at Wanda. He sees that Wanda can barely control her emotions since a blush is going across her face. She is trying to cover up her cheeks and hide that she is blushing, but it is no use.

"What if he didn't accept that answer, Steve?" Wanda asks. "What if he thought that you were not good enough for me?"

"Well, then I'd just have to run away with you." Steve smirks.

"Pietro can run faster." Wanda replies.

Steve just rolls his eyes in her direction. Not in a rude way, but more in an 'I should've expect that response from you' or an 'of course you would say that' way. This earns a small laugh from Wanda.

"I don't care what your brother says Wanda." Steve finally says. "I love you and he can't change that. And I do not want to disrespect him, or push him away, but if he did not accept me dating you, then he would just have to deal with it. Unless, of course, you did not want to date me. Then I would respect your wishes."

Wanda just smiles at Steve's response. Of course he would be the type of person to act like a gentleman and would want to respect everyone's wishes, but he is also strong willed and will do the right thing. Wanda opens her arms up, asking Steve for a hug. Steve smiles and approaches Wanda. He wraps his arms around her, giving Wanda a hug.

"I'm tired." Wanda whines after a few minutes of hugging. 

"Okay, well, how about I take you to your room and you can get some sleep?" Steve asks. 

Wanda nods against Steve's chest. Steve just lets out a small laugh, taking notice of Wanda's actions when she is tired.

"You're so helpless when you're tired." Steve says.

"Steve?" Wanda asks, half ignoring Steve's statement.

"Yes?"

"Do you have a TV in your room?"

"I do."

"Can we go there and watch a movie together instead?"

"Sure."

With that, Steve picks Wanda up, one arm under her legs and the other supporting her back. Wanda drapes her arms around Steve's neck, loosely, smiling at him. He carries her to his room and places on the bed, gently. Then, Steve grabs the remote for the TV, which was sitting on the TV stand. He hands the remote to Wanda. 

"Are you hungry?" Steve asks.

"A little." Wanda shrugs.

"I'll go get some snacks then." 

"Only if it isn't too much trouble." Wanda replies, with a smile.

"It would never be, especially not for you. Now, do you have any preferences?"

"Not really."

"So I guess I will bring a vegetable tray." Steve says, trying to be a smart ass.

"Okay, no. Not that." Wanda laughs. "Just get some normal snacks."

"Of course, of course."

Steve gives Wanda a small smile just before he leaves the room to go get snacks. While Steve is gone, Wanda starts changing the channels, trying to look for something to watch. She must have looked through just about everything that is on but does not find anything that interests her, though. This is when she begins to focus on the lump on her back caused by the pillow. She tries to ignore it for a while, but cannot for any longer. She sits up, now not leaning on the pillow, and finally tries to fix the pillow. When she moves the pillow though, she finds a small notebook under it.   
Interested in what is inside and why it would be under the pillow, she picks it up and starts flipping through the pages. She finds that there are some drawings in the book as well as a few paragraphs written in. Most of the paragraphs are all about how life used to be before Steve got iced. She continues to read the paragraphs and she also admires the drawings.

"Okay so, I grabbed us some popcorn and Doritos...because Stark always buys them because of that joke on the internet...? I don't really know ask him." Steve says, walking into the room with two bowls.

Steve looks up at Wanda, properly, making eye contact with her. He notices that she is holding a notebook in her hand. The notebook looks familiar, like the one he will sometimes draw in. But it cannot be...or can it?

"What do you have there?" Steve finally asks.

"Oh..." Wanda says, realizing that she just invaded Steve's privacy. "It's a notebook. You're notebook. I found it under your pillow, and curiosity got the best of me. Sorry. I hope you don't mind..."

"No it's fine," Steve replies. "What have you seen?"

"A few drawings and some of the things you wrote about how your life used to be..."

Wanda's tone drops, going from happy to less excited and dim. Steve notices this and takes a seat next to Wanda. He is not 100% sure why but he can tell that she is disappointed about something.

"Wanda, what's wrong?" Steve asks, noticing the cold shoulder he is receiving from Wanda.

"Nothing." Wanda replies, trying to act normal and as if nothing is wrong.

Steve does not buy into it though.

"I know something is bothering you." Steve says. "Just tell me, please. If I know what is wrong, I could help."

"It's just that in the notebook, you talk about missing the old times so much." Wanda starts, finally opening up to Steve. "You say how much you miss everyone from there and how much simpler life was back then. It seems like you would go back there if you could. Do you really want to go back there?"

Steve lets out a sigh.

"Wanda," Steve starts. "I do miss those times, yeah. And for the longest time, I felt really weird being here and like I didn't belong. All I wanted to do was have everything go back to the way I knew it and, I wanted nothing to change."

"So that means that you do want to go back?"

"If a few months ago someone came to me and said that everything would go back to the way it was, I would've said yes. But if someone said that to me today, I wouldn't go back. After such a long time, I feel like I have finally found someone who understands me. I wouldn't give up having you in my life, even if everything were to go back to how I remember." 

With that, Wanda smiles, happy to know that she is very important to Steve. She instantly wraps her arms around him, giving him a tight hug and not wanting to let go. Steve smiles back and hugs Wanda in response. He thinks about the old times and how much he misses them, but he was not lying; he would not give up Wanda and he is just happy to be with her. Plus, people seem to actually need him now, and not just for being Captain America, but for being himself. 

\----

It has been a few days since Pietro has come back and everything is quiet. This means that Wanda and Steve have had plenty of time to spend together and, the two have finally scheduled a real date. They are going to go to see a movie; something that most couples usually do while dating. Before leaving though, Wanda goes to see Pietro. She knocks on the door of his room. 

"Come in." Pietro says.

Wanda opens the door and finds Pietro looking in at himself in the mirror. He is fixing his hair and has a tie, which is untied, around his neck. He stops fixing his hair and begins to try tying the tie around his neck. He looks like he is struggling with it, but Wanda decides to let him be for just a moment.

"Piet," Wanda finally says, closing the door behind her. "I just wanted to tell you that Steve and I are going out."

"Okay." Pietro says calmly, still struggling with his tie.

"Woah, you aren't freaking out?" Wanda jokes. "I am surprised."

"Yeah well, I meant what I said. Steve is a nice guy, as far as I can tell. I trust him. And I trust you and your judgement."

"You should." Wanda says, continuing to watch Pietro struggle. "Need help?"

"Yeah, please."

With that, Wanda lets out a little laugh. She approaches Pietro and begins to tie his tie for him.

"And where are you going all dressed up like this?" Wanda asks.

"Oh, nowhere special." Pietro replies.

"No where special? Pietro you're wearing a dress shirt and a tie. If you are going 'nowhere special', you would be wearing sweats!"

"Fine. I'm going on a date at 5:00 with this girl I met."

"Woah! Not even a week back from the dead and Pietro Maximoff already has a date. Would it kill you to wear a pair of slacks and dress shoes?"

"Well, she did say to not dress too fancy, so black jeans and a pair of these shoes are fine."

"Whatever you says, Piet. So, let me see a picture of this girl, if you have one." Wanda asks as she finishes tying Pietro's tie.

"I do have one." Pietro says, taking his phone out of his pocket.

He looks through a few pictures he has and stops at one picture of a girl. She has medium length straight brown-blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She looks to be around the same age as her and Pietro, with a nice smile and perfectly shaped eyebrows. The one noticeable different trait Wanda sees is a small scar below her lip, on her right side.

"She looks nice, Pietro." Wanda says. "What's her name?"

"Cody." Pietro replies, smiling slightly.

"That is a name you don't hear everyday."

"That is true. But it's nice."

"Okay, Piet! I think that you're going to have a great night. Treat her right, be yourself and she'll like you." Wanda smiles back at Pietro after noticing that her brother is somewhat nervous.

"I know Wanda, I promise I'll treat her right." Pietro replies.

"I know you will Piet."

Wanda wraps her arms around her brother, giving him a hug for reassurance, and also to say goodbye to him. Pietro smiles as she hugs him, wrapping his arms around her to hug her back. Finally, the two let go of one another.

"Now, you better start going!" Wanda says. "It's almost 5 and you don't wanna be late!"   
"I'm going. Don't worry, Wanda." Pietro smiles. "I am never late."   
Pietro gives Wanda a small kiss on the cheek before he runs off, leaving Wanda sitting in his room smiling about how stupid her brother is. With that, Wanda decides to go and find Steve. She knocks on the door of Steve's room.

"Come in." Steve says from inside his room.

Wanda opens the door and walks into the room to find Steve standing in front of his mirror fixing his hair. He is wearing a white button up shirt but it is only halfway buttoned. He is also wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and white sweat socks which causes Wanda to laugh.

"What is it?" Steve asks, still running the comb through his hair.

"Why are you wearing sweats with a button up?" Wanda smiles, wrapping her arms around Steve from behind.

"Because I wasn't finished getting changed for our date, love." Steve replies, giving Wanda a small kiss. 

"Oh I should probably go get ready for that." 

"Yes, you probably should." Steve smiles and kisses Wanda again. "See you in a little bit." 

With that Wanda walks to her room and looks through her closet. She starts pulling out all of the clothes in her closet and putting them onto her bed. She continues to pile clothes on her bed, looking for something to wear. She first thinks about wearing a dress, but also thinks it might be better to wear jeans, or maybe a skirt? She is not sure! After 15 minutes there is a knock on the door to Wanda's room. 

"Come in." Wanda says.

Steve walks into the room looking quite dapper. He is wearing the same white button down shirt from before with a pair of dark blue jeans, black canvas shoes and a black leather jacket. His hair is neatly combed and he has freshly shaved his face. 

"Woah Steve...you look amazing." Wanda says, approaching Steve and giving him a kiss on the cheek. 

"Thanks." Steve smiles. "You ready to go?" 

"Umm...no." Wanda says, looking down at the hoodie and shorts that she is wearing. 

"Alright well, you have so many things to wear, Wanda. Just pick anything, you'll look good wearing anything." 

"But nothing here is what I want to wear." 

"There's plenty of clothes. Here, I'll pick something for you, okay?" 

"Alright." 

Steve walks over to the pile of clothes and pulls out the first thing he finds. 

"Here." Steve says handing Wanda a pair of black ripped skinny jeans and a deep coloured red shirt. 

"Steve, you didn't even see everything else." Wanda laughs. 

"I know. But you look amazing in everything. Now come on Wanda, let's go." 

"Alright." Wanda smiles, taking the clothes and going to the washroom to get changed. 

When she is in the washroom, Wanda changes into the outfit and then fixes her hair. She quickly puts on a little bit of makeup and then walks back into the room. Steve is sitting on the edge of the bed and now looks up at Wanda when she enters the bedroom again. He gives her a little smile and nods his head, signalling to her that she looks great in the outfit. Wanda gives Steve a smile back as she puts on her black converse. 

"You look beautiful," Steve kisses Wanda on the cheek.

"Why thank you, Prince Charming," Wanda teases, turning to give Steve a proper kiss on the lips.

Steve rolls his eyes slightly. 

"Okay, let's get going," Wanda suggests. "We wouldn't want to be late to the movies."

"No we would not," Steve agrees.

Wanda takes Steve's hand in hers and, the two are headed off. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW!!!!  
> Self harm mentions

Steve and Wanda decide to walk to the movies, since it is only ten minutes away from the base. When they arrive at the theatre, they look at the movies that are playing. The theatre that they are at plays older, well-known, classic movies but, this is good since neither of them have watched many movies. 

"So what do you want to watch?" Steve asks.

"I'm not sure." Wanda says. "I'm okay with watching anything. I mean, I haven't really went to the movies. I would only go when I was young, with my parents and Pietro. After we lost them, we didn't really have a lot of money and going to the movies was one of our last priorities."

Steve sighs, still upset that Wanda had such a rough childhood and that she lost her innocence when she was way too young, which forced her to grow up quickly.

"I know Wanda, and I'm sorry about that." Steve says, planting a kiss at the side of Wanda's head.

He pulls her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her tightly. Wanda wraps her arms around Steve's torso.

"But if things went differently, I may have not have meet you." Steve adds. "I don't mean that to be insensitive or..."

Steve is cut off by Wanda giving him a kiss.

"I know, Steve, don't worry." Wanda gives Steve a reassuring smile. "Alright, so what are we going to watch? Have you heard of any of these movies?"

"Umm..." Steve looks at the movies that are playing. "I've heard good things about Rocky."

"Sounds familiar. What is it about?"

"It is about this guy, who starts with nothing and then creates an entire legacy for himself, training and becoming a boxer. I've heard that it is a good movie, a classic, must-see movie."

"Sounds fine to me."

The two buy their tickets from the ticket both. They then get a bag of popcorn and two drinks. Noticing that Wanda is looking at a package of some of the candies at the food vendor, Steve purchases a pack of them. He hands then to Wanda, which makes her smile a little bit. The two go into the theatre and find two seats all the way at the back. The theatre is pretty empty and not many people are sitting near the back, so it is the prefect place for them to sit to spend quality time with just one another. The movie starts and Steve and Wanda are both paying attention while sharing the popcorn with one another.

It is about midway through the movie when Steve reaches into the bag to grab some more popcorn, just as he had been doing the entire time. This time though, he feels Wanda's hand inside the bag also. He puts his hand in Wanda's and looks over at her. Wanda looks over at Steve and smiles slightly.

"You gotta let go so I can get my popcorn." Wanda whispers and laughs.

"Fine." Steve says, sounding disappointed as he moves his up and now holds onto Wanda's wrist.

Wanda flinches back and pulls her arm away from Steve.

"Wanda, what's wrong?" Steve asks.

"Nothing Steve, don't worry." Wanda says.

Even though the theatre is dark, Steve can see that Wanda's eyes have become shiny, looking as if she is going to cry.

"Wanda, what's wrong?" Steve asks again. "You can tell me."

"Steve, I said not to worry!" Wanda says, getting up and walking out of the theatre.

Steve grabs his jacket and runs after her. He sees that Wanda walks into the women's washroom. Steve is not quite sure what to do. Hesitantly, he decides to walk inside. He walks in and finds Wanda in front of the mirror, crying, with a tissue in her hand.

"Hey..." He says.

Wanda turns to look at him, surprised that he came into the washroom in the first place. She turns back around in the opposite direction though, not wanting to look at him while she is crying. She has done that too many times already; looking at Steve while she has been crying and in distress. 

"Wanda talk to me...what's wrong?" Steve asks, his voice full of concern. "Did I do something? Did I not do something? Please just tell me."

"I can't tell you Steve." She says.

"Yes you can, you can tell me anything, I promise."

"But Steve I can't tell you this!" Wanda shouts. "I can't say this thing or it'll ruin everything, it'll ruin us."

Wanda is almost panting and begins to feel herself going into a panic.

"Wanda, just don't worry." Steve says, softly. "I promise that whatever this is will not ruin us. I promise."

Steve wraps his arms around Wanda, trying to help her through the panicking. Wanda pushes Steve away from her again. She pulls her hands up to her face, trying her best to get rid of all of the tears by rubbing them away. This gets rid of the tears, but also causes her cheeks to become red. Steve then sees it; the cuts on her wrist.

"Wanda...are you, doing that again?" Steve says, his eyes glued to her wrists.

Wanda realizes that her sleeves are now pushed too far up and are revealing the scars, cuts and bandages she has on her arm.

"Steve..." Wanda swallows hard, getting choked up and feeling her heart drop into her stomach. "I'm sorry."

She mumbles the words out, as if she is afraid to actually say them. Tears start running down her cheeks again.

"No Wanda, just...come here." Steve opens his arms, offering Wanda a hug.

Steve is crushed. He hates seeing the girl he loves hurt. He wants nothing more than for Wanda to be okay and this is the last thing he would want her to do. But he still would never leave her alone to suffer and he knows that he will try to do everything he can to help Wanda. Wanda runs into Steve's arms and begins crying into his shirt.

"I'm sorry, Steve." Wanda sobs. "I love you and I don't want to hurt you."

"Wanda..." Tears forming in Steve's eyes and a lump forming in his throat. "I love you, and I just want you to be okay."

Tears begin to fall from Steve's eyes.

"I just want you to be okay...talk to me so I can help you." Steve says between sobs. "You have to talk to me. I understand what you are going through, and I want to be there to help you. Please allow me to."

"I'm sorry, Steve, I promise I will try harder." Wanda replies.

"It's okay." Steve says as Wanda wipes the tears away from his eyes. "Let's go home."

Steve brushes some of the tears off of Wanda's face and giving her a quick kiss. Wanda nods and Steve puts his jacket around Wanda. Her eyes are red from crying and so are Steve's. Steve puts his arm around Wanda and the two begin to walk back silently with Steve occasionally giving Wanda a small kiss on the top of her head. When Steve and Wanda arrive back at the Avenger's base, it is silent. The two take a quick look around, checking just about everywhere in the base to see if there is anyone still there. After completing their search though, they do not find the others. They figure that the rest of the Avengers must have gone out to do something, and do not get to worried about them not being present.

"Alright, let's go take you to my room and get this all fixed up." Steve says referring to the cuts.

Wanda nods and takes Steve's hand as he leads her to his room. Wanda sits down on the edge of the bed as Steve looks through the cabinets in his washroom for the first aid kit. He finds it and pulls it out as well as getting some towels and rubbing alcohol. Wanda now takes off Steve's jacket.

"Alright Miss. Maximoff, I'm Dr. Rogers." Steve says, trying to be funny and earn a laugh from his girlfriend. "Let's see what we've got here."

Wanda lets out a little scoff at Steve's humour and appreciates how he is trying to be goofy just to get some kind of laugh out of her. She cannot help but roll her eyes a little bit as well due to Steve's actions. In the mean time, Steve starts to take off the few Band-Aids that are on Wanda's arm.

"Alright," Steve says putting some alcohol on one of the towels. "This might end up hurting a bit but we have to do this. I have to clean the cuts, alright?"

Wanda nods, trying to prepare herself for what is to come.

"Just...squeeze my arm if it hurts." Steve offers.

Wanda nods again and puts her hand on Steve's arm. Steve looks at her, waiting for a response as to whether he can go or not. Wanda nods at him, signalling that it is okay for him to start. He presses the towel to her arm and starts rubbing Wanda's wounds. Wanda instantly squeezes Steve's arm in pain. This makes Steve work faster, trying to keep her pain to a minimal. He quickly finishes off. Then he grabs a bandage from the med kit and wraps it around Wanda's arm.

"That should be better now." Steve says, as he puts away all of the supplies he got.

Wanda stares down at the white bandage on her arm, unsure what to think. She feels disappointed in herself, almost mad with what she did. She feels dumb for even thinking about doing it in the first place. At the moment, she is unsure why she even decided to do this to herself. Sure, she might have been in a lot of pain in the moment it happened, but this final result is horrible and she hates it. As Steve walks back into the bedroom after putting everything away, he sees the blank look Wanda has on her face. He notices how she is looking down at her bandaged up arm thinks that she is thinking about what she did. He takes a seat next to her on the bed.

"You alright?" Steve asks.

"I guess. Thanks." Wanda replies.

"You aren't okay. Or at least you are thinking about something. Tell me, what's on your mind?"

"It's going to sounds stupid but I hate myself for doing this. I hate it a lot. But when I had done it, I believed that I deserved it...that it would help to get rid of how I was feeling, or that it would make me feel..."

Steve pulls Wanda into a tight hug, knowing exactly what she is going through.

"I know." Steve says.

"Steve, you can't just say you know when you haven't ever done this!" Wanda swallows hard, getting a little bit frustrated. "You don't know what it's like to come to a new country and have everyone hate you. You don't know what it's like coming to a place and having everyone think you are a villain. You don't understand what I've gone through. And most importantly, you don't know what it is like to hate yourself so much that you put cuts and scars on your body."

"But Wanda...I do understand. When I first came back, I was basically alone. I tired to push myself and train myself so much, not caring what happened to me or if I got hurt. But I am Captain America, so that was something that wouldn't be able to happen. And when I finally realized that I would not be able to punish myself through training hard, I had resorted to...to other methods, I guess you can say..."

Wanda gives Steve a confused look, not knowing exactly what he means. Steve can tell that Wanda is unsure of what he means. He pulls up his shirt so Wanda is able to see his abdomen. She makes eye contact with Steve, who gestures for her to take a closer look. She does and this is when she notices scars on the right side of his abdomen.

"I have been through the same thing as you." Steve explains, with a sigh. "I am not proud of it, at all, and I do not like to talk about it. But it is something that I did."

"I...I didn't know." Wanda replies, unsure of what to say.

"No one knew, and I wanted to keep it that way. But, now you know. And I trust that you'll keep it to yourself, because I do not want everyone to know."

"I will keep it to myself. I won't tell anyone. But you know you can talk to me if you ever need, right?"

"I know. And I appreciate it. I am doing way better than how I was doing then, though. I am okay."

Steve pulls his shirt back down, covering his body again. There is a moment of silence between the two as they sit next to each other, both of them trying collect their thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Steve." Wanda says. "I'm sorry for lashing out at you, when I did not know everything."

"It's fine." Steve replies. "Like I said, I told no one, This was something that I made sure to just keep to myself. Now, I know this is a lot to ask, but can you try real hard to stop?"

"Yes Steve, I'll try." Wanda wraps her arms around Steve.

"Thanks." Steve says. "And remember, I am always here for you."

"I know." Wanda replies.

Wanda gives Steve a small smile and a kiss on the cheek, hoping that she has comforted him. 


	11. Chapter 11

Wanda presses herself underneath Steve's chin and against his chest. The two continue to sit there, holding each other close, for a while longer. They do not want to lose each other and cannot help but feel sorry for each other. They wish that the other did not have to go through such a hard life. Wanda is piecing together what to say, still unsure of exactly what words to use. Finally, after a few more moments, she decides on something simple to say to Steve, to hopefully make up for the night that they have had. She pulls away from Steve for a moment, looking up at him and making eye contact with him.

"Steve?" Wanda says, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes?" Steve replies. 

"I'm sorry that I ruined our date."

"You didn't ruin it. Now we are here, in my room, and I can just spend the rest of the evening cuddling with you."

Wanda smiles, going back to hugging Steve. She presses herself against his chest again, happy that she has him apart of her life.

"I love you." She says.

"I love you too." Steve replies

Steve lies back on his bed with Wanda lying with her head on Steve's chest. She is holding onto him tightly, almost as if she is afraid to lose him. 

"Tomorrow we have to go on a mission." Steve says. 

"What?" Wanda is shocked. "Since when?"

"Since this morning. Tony just told me. It's about a reported 'Bucky sighting' or that's what Tony says." Steve sighs. "Tony told me, since he figured I would want to check it out before anyone else would find out. Just in case the government got ahold of him, you know?"

"Yeah I get it. Who's going to come?"

"Well, I was thinking you, me, Pietro, Nat and Clint...not too many people but just enough. And you only have to come if you're up for it." 

"I'm up for it, especially since it'll be helping you out." Wanda now props herself up so her face is in front of Steve's.

She leans in and gives Steve a soft kiss on his lips. She smiles against his lips just before Steve pulls her in for another. 

"Alright, alright." Steve finally says, pulling away after a few more kisses. "We should probably get some sleep so we are up nice and earlier tomorrow." 

"Only on one condition." Wanda smirks.

"I'm listening." 

"I get to sleep here with you." 

"Deal." 

Wanda smiles and the two sit up.

"Steve?" Wanda asks.

"Yes?" Steve replies. 

"Can I borrow one of your shirts?"

"Go ahead." Steve points towards the drawers. 

Wanda gets up and looks through Steve's tee shirt drawer. She finds a few options that she contemplates wearing. Finally, she comes across a nice, blue coloured tee. 

"This one?" She asks.

"Sure." Steve is now taking off his button down shirt.

He grabs a plain white tee and pulls it over his head, after he takes off the button down. 

"Can I borrow some shorts too?" Wanda asks. 

"If you want." Steve replies. 

Wanda looks through Steve's drawers again and, finds a pair of black track shorts that look somewhat smaller than the rest. 

"These ones." She says, smiling. 

"Alright." Steve grabs a pair of blue plaid pajama bottoms.

Wanda goes to the washroom and changes quickly. She also fixes her hair, putting it up into a messy bun. She walks out of the washroom to find Steve fully changed and sitting on the bed, waiting for her. Wanda climbs up onto the bed and sits down next to Steve. 

"Hey," she smiles at Steve.

"Hey." Steve wraps his arm around her.

"You look worried. Tell me what's going through your mind."

"Nah, it isn't anything much."

"Something is wrong, isn't it? Or at least you are thinking about something. Like you say to me, you can talk to me."

"I'm just thinking about the whole Bucky situation. I mean, a lot has happened between us and...what if I don't find him? Or what if I do find him? I don't know, I am just worried."

"Hey it's okay." Wanda says, sitting up a little taller.

Wanda pulls Steve's head onto her chest, allowing him to rest on her. She starts running her hands through his hair, trying her best to calm him down and stop his worrying. 

"I don't want to mess everything up..." Steve feels a lump starting to form in his throat. "If I do, I might never get Bucky back."

"No don't you dare start crying on me, Steven. You'll make me start crying again." Wanda says, trying to gain a laugh out of Steve. 

It somewhat works, since Steve lets a small scoff escape him. 

"Steve, you cannot worry about what you cannot control." Wanda says. "All you can do now is worry about yourself. You should get some sleep and worry about this tomorrow. You'll know what to do when the time comes, trust me."

"Alright." Steve nods, about to adjust so Wanda can lie down on him.

"Steve, just sleep." Wanda takes notice of how Steve is trying to move to make her comfortable. "I'm fine."

"Are you comfortable? Am I hurting you?"

"Yes, I am, and no, you are not."

"Are you sure?" 

"I'm positive." Wanda gives Steve a smile. "Plus, I love how soft your hair is and it smells great...like your shirts." 

"Alright." Steve replies, with a teary laugh,

"Now, just sleep. I am pretty sure you are tired, right?"

"I am a little bit tired."

"Then sleep. I am right here." 

"I know you are," Steve says, grabbing Wanda's hand and pulling to his lips so he can place a kiss on it. "Goodnight, my dear."

"Goodnight." Wanda replies.

She runs her hand through Steve's hair while running her other hand up and down his back. She gives Steve a kiss on the top of his head. With that, Steve pulls the blanket up onto the both of them and, the two close their eyes and fall asleep, holding each other close.

\----

Wanda wakes up and realizes that she is not in her bedroom. She looks around and, after a few seconds it clicks that she is in Steve's room. Steve is not next to her any longer and, she stands up. She stretches and then rubs her eyes. She walks to the bathroom to wash her face and also fixes her hair. When she walks back into the bedroom, she finds that Steve is there He is holding a plate pilled high with all kinds of breakfast including eggs, pancakes, waffles, toast, French toast, peanut butter, jam, bacon and much, much more. In his other hand, Steve is holding a mug which looks to be filled with coffee.

"Morning." Steve says, giving Wanda a smile.

"Good morning." Wanda smiles back as him as she walks over to Steve and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

"I thought I'd bring you breakfast. You were still asleep and I had woken up quite early."

"Early enough to make a whole feast?" Wanda asks, laughing a little bit.

"Yes, early enough to make you an entire feast."

"That is very thoughtful of you. Thank you."

"Aw, no worries."

Steve gestures to the bed, telling Wanda to take a seat. She does and Steve sits down next to here. Steve places the platter on his lap and hands Wanda the mug. She instantly takes a sip of the coffee and smiles, thankful that Steve has made it for her. Then, she starts eating one of the chocolate chip pancakes Steve made.

"Are you are going to have any?" Wanda asks.

"Nah, I made it for you." Steve says.

"But there is a lot of food here. And I am not that hungry."

"I am very confident that you can finish this all."

"Please have some."

Steve rolls his eyes and smiles at Wanda, who continues to insist that Steve have some food. It has been a few minutes of Wanda insisting and refusing to eat until Steve has some of the meal too. Finally, after just a little bit more insisting, Steve gives in. The two eat and talk, making only some light conversation.

"Alright, Love," Steve says, standing up. "Let's go get ready for this mission."

"Do the others already know about it?" Wanda asks.

"Nat and Clint do, the two of them were in the kitchen while I was making breakfast. I told them while I was there so they are probably getting ready now, or just finished. I had tried to find Pietro this morning to tell him, but I didn't know where he was."

"Well, he did go on a date yesterday so maybe he got back late and slept in?"

"Maybe. Do you want to take a look for him? You don't have to force him to come if he's too tired though."

"Okay, I'll go find him and let him know."

"Perfect. Thanks." 

Steve gives Wanda a soft kiss before the two part ways to get ready. Before heading to her own room, Wanda goes to Pietro's. She gently knocks on the door to Pietro's room, but there is no response. She knocks again, this time harder and louder than the first time that she knocked. She hears movement in the room followed by someone talking.

"Ugh it's too early." Pietro groans from inside his room, sounding half asleep.

"Pietro," Wanda says.

"Ugh okay, fine, come in." 

Wanda walks into her brother's room and finds Pietro half lying down on his bed. He has the blanket messily over him and his hair looks like a disaster. He is still wearing the same pants he was wearing yesterday but is now wearing a white tee shirt instead of the button up shirt.

"Pietro..." Wanda lets out a small laugh.

"Sestra." Pietro says. "I just want more sleep."

"Pietro there's a mission that Steve wants us to go on. You don't have to come if you don't want to or if you're too tired. Steve had offered for you to come, and thought you could help. If you do not want to come though, I will just tell him that you needed to sleep in."

Pietro does not respond and stares into space. He is exhausted and Wanda can see that. She gives Pietro a little smile as she sits down next to him, just on the edge of his bed. Pietro sits up straighter now, moving to make space for Wanda to sit comfortably. Wanda places a hand on Pietro's shoulder.

"Pietro..." Wanda says giving her brother a kiss on the top of his head. "If you are too tired, it is okay."

"I'll come." Pietro replies. "Just 5 more minutes of sleep, and I will be good."

"I'll only let you lie down if you tell me about your date."

"It was fine." Pietro lies back down in bed. "Nothing more to say. We had fun at dinner and we'll probably go out again next week."

"That's good, Piet." Wanda smiles as she likes down next to Pietro, hugging him.

"Are you wearing Steve's clothes?" Pietro glances at Wanda's shirt.

"Yes." 

"Why?"

"Because his clothes are comfy and I fell asleep in his room yesterday." 

"Oh, okay." 

"You know I really missed you, when you were gone, right?" 

"Yes I know." 

"Don't you ever leave me again, do you understand?"

"Yes, Sestra." Pietro chuckles.

"Good." Wanda smirks, hitting him over the head with a pillow. "Now get up and get ready."

"But can't I sleep for a little while?"

"No, you already slept in for a little while longer."

"No way that was 5 minutes. Just give me a bit longer."

"Nope."

She stands up and grabs the pillow off of the bed. As she walks by, she hits Pietro with it, laughing a little bit as he groans.

"Ugh." Pietro says, get frustrated with his sister. "Fine."

With that, Wanda turns to leave, but not before Pietro can throw a pillow at her, hitting her in the back. Wanda turns around to see Pietro lying down, smirking at her. She picks up the pillow, throws it back at him and then runs out of the room, closing the door behind and running to her room to get ready for the mission.


	12. Chapter 12

Everyone is ready for the mission and are waiting in the kitchen for the last two team members to join them. While they are waiting, Pietro is snacking on a bag of chips while Nat and Clint are arguing about what seems like nothing, but is probably something. Steve walks into the room with Wanda following right behind him.

"Alright guys, are you all ready to go?" Steve asks.

"Sure, Captain." Pietro says, continuing to munch on chips.

"Pietro, don't speak with your mouth full." Wanda teases. "Where are your manners?" 

"But I'm so hungry, Sestra!"

"So? It is still gross!" 

"But I am hungry!"

"So? You can still stop." 

"Make me." Pietro smirks, putting another chip into his mouth.

With that, Wanda waves her hand and a red hex forms around the chip bag and pulls it away from Pietro. 

"Okay, guys cut it out!" Clint says. 

"Shush, old man!" Pietro replies. "Wanda give me my food back!"

"No way, Piet!" Wanda laughs. 

"Speedy! You don't need to eat anymore! Witchy, stop bothering your brother!" Clint says, using the nicknames that he had given to the twins. 

Both of the twins freeze and glare at Clint. Instead of going off on Clint, Wanda decides to drop the chip bag. The bag hits the floor and chips spill out everywhere. Pietro gasps at the fallen chips, shocked that Wanda would do that.

"Wanda!" Pietro yells out, sounding upset. 

"Calm down, Pietro. It is just a bag of chips."

"I'm sorry, Sestra, I'll stop annoying you." Pietro goes over to give Wanda a hug.

Wanda accepts Pietro's hug and hugs him back. Pietro then goes to give Wanda a kiss on her cheek. She dodges the kiss, though.

"Not happening today, Piet." Wanda says.

"Why, Sestra? Dadddddd!!!" Pietro yells to Clint, trying to annoy him after he tried to parents him and Wanda. 

Clint just rolls his eyes in Pietro's direction. 

"Pietro, stop." Clint says.

"Okay guys let's just go." Nat clearly has had enough of this 'family dynamic' drama.

"Fair enough." Steve replies, siding with Nat. 

Everyone walks to the Quinjet and boards it. Clint starts to pilot it with Nat as his co-pilot. Meanwhile, Pietro, Wanda and Steve start to discuss the plan.

"Alright so Bucky is supposed to be in this small town in Detroit." Steve says, pointing to a picture of it on the tablet he has. "What I would like to do is find him and hopefully bring him back while preventing him from becoming the Winter Solider again. That's why I brought all of you along. Pietro, you're faster than Bucky. Nat and Clint can, hopefully, hit him hard with hand to hand combat if we have to do that."

Steve looks at Wanda.

"As for you," Steve continues, looking at Wanda. "I'm thinking that you'll be able to get into his head and hopefully see what's going on in there. Do you think you could do that?"

"I'll try Steve." Wanda replies with a smile.

"Thanks." Steve gives Wanda a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Ew, Steve cut it out!" Pietro whines, acting like he has never seen affection before.

"Pietro, you stop it." Wanda snaps back, smirking about how bothered Pietro is.

Pietro rolls his eyes at his sister and walks away. This causes Wanda to laugh. After about 2 hours, they land and are ready to go looking for Bucky.

"Alright," Steve says. "Let's all go, we'll check a few places. Bucky will probably staying at a cheap motel or apartment or something."

"Here, everyone take one of these." Nat hands out ear pieces to the Avengers. "And don't draw too much attention to yourself."

"That'll be hard for you, Speedy." Clint laughs as he points to Pietro's bleach blonde hair.

"Shut up, old man." Pietro smirks. "I doubt that you'll even be able to keep up with any of us. Maybe you should stay back and babysit the Quinjet. Unless that technology is too advanced for you."

"Woah, looks like we have a smartass on our hands folks."

"Okay just shut up, all of you." Wanda finally says. "We have a mission to do so, quit your arguing so we can go, look for Bucky, and then leave as quickly as possible. Or else I am going to play some mind games with all of you and you'll regret everything that you have done."

"And this is why I like Wanda best." Steve smiles.

"No, you two are dating," Nat scoffs. "That is biased and, therefore, invalid." 

"Okay I said enough. Let's just go already." Wanda changes the topic of conversation. 

Everyone leaves the jet. They decide it will be best to split up so that they will cover more ground. Pietro goes and checks all of the stores, shops and cafes that Bucky might be at while Clint and Nat check all of the hotels and motels. That leaves Steve and Wanda to check all of the apartment buildings. After a few hours of searching for Bucky, everyone meets back at the Quinjet. 

"Did you guys find him?" Steve asks once everyone has arrived. 

"No," Nat says. 

"I didn't either." Pietro replies. 

"Any sight of him at all though?" Steve asks, seeming desperate to get some kind of news about Bucky.

"We didn't actually see him." Clint explains. "We talked to a few people though. They said that they saw a guy wearing similar clothing to him, but they cannot confirm if it was or not."

"So we should check!" Steve says, ready to leave the jet and go find Bucky.

"It isn't enough evidence, Steve." Nat adds. "Plus, they said that they saw him weeks ago...by now, that means that Bucky would be somewhere different."

"But still, we can check." Steve insist.

"It is best if we don't. Bucky doesn't want to be found, so he won't be. If we wait for him to resurface, it will be easier for us. And we won't have to chase after him." 

"Alright let's go then." Steve replies. 

Clint and Nat go to pilot the Quinjet and, they all start heading back to the Avengers base. 

\----  
When the group are back at the base, everyone splits up and goes their separate ways. Wanda goes to find Steve, who seemed to run off as soon as they arrived. She thinks that his actions were off and decides to go find him. She goes to his room, thinking that he would be there. She knocks on the door. 

"Steve?" Wanda says, after knocking. 

There is no response, which worries Wanda, so she decides to walk into the room. She does not find Steve inside and decides to check the other rooms. She checks the kitchen, dinning room, lab and the screening room and does not find Steve in any of these rooms. She then walks down to the training room, the last room where she thinks Steve might be. She finds Steve in there, at a punching bag. He is covered in sweat and it looks like he has been working himself hard. Wanda takes notice of his white tee shirt and black cotton shorts, that are now sticking to his body. She then notices that his hands are not even wrapped in anything and they are covered in blood from punching. 

"Steve?" Wanda asks, entering the room from behind Steve.

Steve turns around and sees Wanda, giving him a look of concern.

"You weren't supposed to be here." Steve says. 

"Don't beat yourself up over this Steve, please." Wanda assumes that he is acting like this because they have not found Bucky. "Please, let's go get ice cream."

Wanda gives Steve a small, comforting smiling, trying to cheer him up. She knows that Steve is mad about not finding Bucky and knows that there is not much that she can do to help him. She also knows that ice cream is good for the soul and even if it may not fix all of his problems, it will certainly make him feel better. 

"Wanda, I haven't found Bucky though. Do you know what that means?" Steve asks.

Wanda shakes her head.

"If the government finds him first or, if anything happens to make him turn into the Winter Soldier...he'll be gone." Steve explains, tripping over the words as if he cannot even believe what he is saying.

"Steve, you can't control something like this." Wanda says. "Don't blame yourself, please. Plus, Bucky will be fine. He can handle himself I am sure. Now, you are stressed and hurt so please come with me and I'll get you all cleaned up. Then, we will go get ice cream if you would like that. Alright?"

Steve sighs.

"Alight. I'm sorry." Steve apologizes.

"Nothing to be sorry about, Steve," Wanda smiles in his direction, hoping to comfort him. "I know Bucky means a lot to you, but you also need to make sure you take care of yourself. I am sure he would want you to and I am sure he would not blame you for any of this. Right?"

"Right."

"Now let's go, shall we?" 

Steve nods in Wanda's direction, admitting that she is right. He follows Wanda to the bathroom connected to his bedroom. There, Wanda helps Steve clean the blood off of his knuckles and, grabs him a damp cloth. Steve takes the cloth and wipes the sweat off of his face. Then, Wanda grabs Steve a clean blue tee shirt and a pair of black sweat pants.

"As much as I love you," Wanda starts. "You're all sweaty. So please change."

Steve sighs then smiles at Wanda, knowing that it is true. He pulls his shirt off and puts the clean one on after wiping sweat off of himself. Then he changes into the pants. Steve takes a seat on the side of his bed now, while Wanda throws the dirty clothes and towels into the laundry bin. Once she is finished, she walks back out to see Steve. She takes a seat on Steve's leg, facing him. 

"There was nothing more you could've done." Wanda says, noticing the guilt in Steve's face. "You've got to trust me on that. I love you so much Steve, and I know that you've done your best. We'll find Bucky, don't worry."

"I am going to worry." Steve adds. "Bucky is my best friend, my brother. If I had just done things differently h-"

"Shh." Wanda cuts him off. "You cannot worry about what you could have done differently. Just focus on what you can do now. You are strong, caring and determined. I know you will be able to find Bucky and I know you won't stop looking for him."

She plants a kiss on Steve cheek as she places her arms around Steve's neck. Steve places his hands on either one of Wanda's sides. Wanda then places her hands on Steve's cheeks and gives Steve a small kiss on his lips. Steve responds by giving Wanda another kiss. The two continue to go back and forth, each kiss getting more passionate than the one before. Wanda ends up pushing Steve onto his back, so he is now lying on his bed. The two continue to give each other kisses little kisses, taking the time to smile between each one and enjoy each kiss. After a little while longer, Steve starts plants small kiss on Wanda's jaw. He then moves and places another on Wanda's neck.

"Steve," Wanda laughs. "Cut it out."

"But I love you." Steve replies. "And I am just trying to show you."

"But I'm ticklish there!" 

Steve smirks at Wanda and Wanda rolls her eyes at him, knowing that he is going to pester her by kissing her there. Steve continues to kiss at the little spot on Wanda's neck, which continues to make her laugh. He stops after a few minutes. This is when Wanda starts to run her hands through Steve's soft hair.

"I love you." Steve finally says, breaking the silence.

"I love you too." Wanda pulls Steve closer to her, hugging him just a little tighter. "Now, is it time for ice cream?"

"Yes, it is definitely time for ice cream."


	13. Chapter 13

It is a while after the Bucky sighting, and everything is slowed down. Right now, Wanda opens her eyes and finds that Steve is still lying on top of her, his head on her chest and his eyes closed. She lets a smile escape her due to the sight of her boyfriend looking so peaceful. She leans down and gives Steve a kiss on the top of his head. Trying her best not to wake up, she makes an attempt to get up and out of bed. This only makes Steve pull her back down onto the bed.

"Steve," Wanda says.

Steve does not open his eyes but smiles as he cuddles Wanda. 

"Just a little longer, Love," Steve whines, placing a kiss on the back of Wanda's neck.

Wanda only smiles and gives Steve a small kiss on his cheek.

"Fine," she sighs. "But only because you're so helpless and tired and, also because I am cold and I want to cuddle."

Steve drapes his arm around Wanda's waist and Wanda moves closer to Steve, putting her head under Steve's chin and against his chest. Steve lets out a sigh.

"You know I love you, right?" Steve asks.

"Yes I know." Wanda replies, letting out a small laugh as to how random Steve's question was. "I love you too."

Wanda moves her hand and places it onto the back of Steve's neck. Steve smiles and places a few kisses on Wanda's head and cheeks. Wanda smiles a little.

"Steve," Wanda says, laughing a little.

"What?" Steve asks. "Can I not just show a bit of affection for the girl that I love?"

Wanda's cheeks begin to turn red, since she does not handle compliments very well.

"Okay fine, I'll stop," Steve says, reluctantly placing one final kiss on Wanda's cheek.

"Steve?"

"Yes?"

"I'm hungry."

"Then let's go and I'll get you some breakfast." 

Wanda smiles and the two sit up in bed. Steve stands up and stretches, letting a small moan escape him as well as a yawn. 

"Steve?" Wanda says.

Steve turns to look at Wanda. She has her arms opened.

"I don't want to walk all the way to the kitchen." Wanda adds. "Can you carry me?" 

"Of course." Steve lets out a little chuckle as he picks Wanda up. 

She wraps her legs around Steve's waist and leaves her arms around is neck. She lies her head on his shoulder and places a small kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks." Wanda smiles. 

"No problem." Steve says, smiling and wrapping his arms around her back. 

Steve walks to the kitchen and places Wanda down on the counter of the breakfast bar. 

"So what should I make for us?" Steve asks, shifting through the cupboards. 

"Pancakes!" Wanda shouts, sounding like a little kid. 

Steve laughs and gets to work making some chocolate chip pancakes. He is making a disaster, spilling things everywhere, and he is covered in a layer of flour. Wanda just laughs and watches in awe as Steve continues to struggle to make a simple breakfast. But it is cute. Steve is trying very hard to impress Wanda with his 'breakfast making skills' and is very focused on what he is doing. Finally, Steve finishes and brings the plates of pancakes to the table with syrup. 

"And there we go." Steve says. 

Wanda smiles and takes a seat next to Steve at the breakfast bar. She takes a bite out of a pancakes and, surprisingly, they are quite good. 

"Woah Steve..." Wanda says. "They're delicious."

"I did my best." Steve smiles. 

"I can tell." Wanda gives Steve a kiss on the tip of his nose. 

When Steve and Wanda are just about finished eating their breakfast, there is a blue blur that speeds in. It's Pietro. 

"Morning, Sestra." Pietro says, kissing Wanda's cheek. 

"Morning Piet." Wanda smiles at him. 

She turns around to face Pietro and wraps her arms around his neck. Pietro wraps his arms around Wanda and smiles. The two hug each other, tightly, for a few moments. 

"Wanda...aren't you having breakfast with Steve?" Pietro asks. "Isn't he going to get jealous?" 

Steve just laughs and shakes his head.

"It's fine, Kid," Steve says to Pietro. "Your sister really missed you while you were gone and you two have a pretty great bond." 

"Whatever you say, Mr. America." Pietro smirks, sitting down on the seat next to Wanda. 

"Pietro," Wanda says, opening her arms for a hug again. 

"Sestra, you are acting like a little kid." Pietro laughs. 

"Steve is right though. It's just cuz I love youuu." 

Pietro just laughs a little and pulls Wanda onto his lap, hugging her. 

"I love you too Wanda." Pietro says, placing another soft kiss on his sister temple. 

Wanda smiles and buries her head into her brother's chest, hugging him and appreciating the fact that he is still here. 

"Well," Pietro laughs. "Someone is in a mood where she actually wants to be touched and hugged for once." 

Wanda nods her head against Pietro. 

"Steve," Pietro starts. "When she was younger she didn't like hugs. Not one bit! She would let our family hug her, yes, but that was it! Even at school she would not let any of the kids in her grade hug her or even so much as touch her!"

"What about her friends?" Steve asks. 

"Not even her friends and not even if it were the last day of school! And then, when we were 10 the whole...thing...happened and she would hug me a lot. And that was about it. She hated hugs from anyone else. And I know that she is really likes affection from you. Steve, just know you're a lucky man to have my sister's heart and to have her wanting your hugs and kisses." 

Pietro looks down at Wanda, who is blushing slightly now and has a smile across her face. 

"Alright Sestra, I think I have embarrassed you enough for one day." Pietro laughs and gives Wanda a kiss on the top of her head. "Shall I leave you with Steve now?" 

"Actually I have to run to a quick meeting with Tony about Bucky..." Steve lies, "So you two can spend a bit of time together okay?" 

"Alright." Pietro says. 

Steve leans down and gives Wanda a kiss on her cheek. 

"Love you," Steve says. 

"Love you more." Wanda replies, just before Steve exits the room. 

There is a few moments of silence. 

"Alright Sestra," Pietro says. "Movie marathon and hugs?" 

Wanda nods and smiles. 

"Not wanting to speak...just like when we were little." Pietro smiles. 

Wanda nods again. 

"Okay Sestra." 

Pietro smiles and carries Wanda over to the lounge area. The two search through some movies and finally find something to watch. Pietro presses play and Wanda pulls Pietro's head onto her chest, so she is able to play with his hair. She holds Pietro close to her, not wanting to lose her brother again. She finally places a kiss on his head. 

"I love you Pietro," Wanda says. 

A tear rolls down her cheek, the memories of how she lost him all flowing back to her. Pietro hears a sniffle escape from Wanda and shoots up to look at his sister, who has a few tears running down her cheeks now. 

"Shhh," Pietro says, hugging Wanda and rubbing her back trying to soothe her. "I am right here Sestra, I am not leaving." 

Wanda nods but continues to cry into Pietro's shoulder. Pietro continues to hug his sister and is trying to wipe away all of her tears, but they keep flowing. 

"Sestra do not worry." Pietro hums. "I love you and I am staying right here." 

After a while longer Wanda finally stops crying, feeling slightly embarrassed to have been crying over something that is not even a very big deal. Pietro notices this but continues to hug Wanda, reassuring her. Wanda falls asleep in Pietro's arms, holding her brother tightly, almost afraid to let go in fear that she might lose him again.

\----

Steve walks into the lounge area, feeling tired and stressed about Bucky still. He knows that he will have to work even harder to try to find his friend before anyone else will. He does not want to think about what might happen if the Bucky were to turn into the Winter Solider before the Avengers were to find him. Or worse; if the government were to get ahold of Steve's friend first. Steve knows that the government would just blame Bucky for everything that has happened and, they would not even think to point fingers as Hydra or at the people who are really at fault. In the lounge room, Steve finds Pietro sitting on the couch with a sleeping Wanda holding onto him. 

"She okay?" Steve asks. 

"Sort of," Pietro says. "I really messed her up when I died, didn't I?" 

Steve sighs and walks around to the other side of the couches. He takes a seat next to Pietro.

"I am not going to lie to you kid," Steve starts. "She was pretty hurt. She would have constant nightmares and seemed really out of it for a while. Hell, she barely had energy and was always tired. I guess she still hasn't had enough sleep yet."

"I feel bad for...dying." Pietro says. "But I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to save the old man and I probably could've done something else instead of that. But I didn't think and...and I just acted an-"

"Kid, it's okay." Steve puts a hand on Pietro's shoulder. "You did what you had to do. No one is blaming you for dying. It was not your fault." 

Pietro looks up at Steve, his eyes have a watery glare. 

"Thank you for taking care of my sister." Pietro says before throwing an arm around Steve, giving him a nice hug.

Steve returns the gesture, hugging Pietro back.

"Pietro, it really wasn't a big deal." Steve says. "I knew your sister was going to need someone during her grief and I know what she had to go through. I was more than happy to help her out." 

Pietro takes his arm off of Steve. 

"It doesn't seem like much to you Steve," Pietro explains. "But it means a lot to me and my sister. I am sure you already know the things we've had to deal with. And Wanda...she's tough on the outside but, realistically she just wants someone who'll love her and care for her. She's a real softie. You're giving her that, Brooklyn Boy." 

Steve lets out a laugh. 

"I really do love her Pietro," Steve says. "I just want to make sure you know that. I am going to take care of her and I am going to make sure that I do everything I can to give her the best."

"I do know that Steve." Pietro smiles. "Wanda makes good choices in people. She has always had that instinct, even as a little kid, although I would never admit it to her." 

"Too late Pietro," Wanda says.

"How much of that did you hear Sestra?" Pietro asks. 

"All of it." Wanda laughs. 

"Okay Steve, I'm going to run, she's your problem now." 

Pietro stands up and dashes off. Wanda sits up on the couch and laughs as Steve slides next to her. Just then, Pietro dashes back and kisses Wanda on the cheek. 

"Think I would just run off like that, Sestra?" Pietro asks. "I would never. Love you." 

Then he dashes off. 

"Your brother is a good kid." Steve says. "He talks about you very highly." 

"He talks about you that way too." Wanda adds. "He appreciates that you take care of me and all of that."

"Wanda, I love you. Of course I am going to take care of you. You're...amazing." 

"So are you Steve." Wanda smiles at Steve and pulls him into a long passionate kiss. 

"Get a room you two!" Nat says. 

"If you don't like what you see you can leave, Nat." Steve turns around to look at Nat. 

"This isn't a private place, you have to be respectful of the rest of us." Nat flicks Steve at the back of his neck and flips her legs over the couch so she is now seated next to Steve. 

"There we go!" Nat says. "Oh and Tony is have a party Saturday night." 

"For?" Steve asks.

"Fun..." Nat replies. "Does Tony even need an excuse to throw a party anymore?" 

"Of course he doesn't." Steve rolls his eyes. "Apparently it is just a normal occurrence to have a party at least once a month."

"Well, are you two going to come?" 

"Do we have a choice?" Wanda asks, sounding sour. 

"No, you kind of don't. So I guess I will be helping you get ready for this party Wanda?" 

"I guess." 

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that you look drop dead gorgeous." 

"She's already drop dead gorgeous." Steve says, throwing a compliment to Wanda. "She's the prime example of gorgeous." 

Wanda just rolls her eyes and lets out a small scoff in response to Steve's compliment. 

"God, Rogers," Nat groans. "You can't even shut up with the compliments for two minutes." 

"Well look at her Nat!" Steve says. "She's a beauty!"

Wanda gives Steve an elbow to the chest, trying to tell him to stop with the compliments. 

"Okay I got the message, I am shutting up." Steve says.

"Good!" Nat smiles. "Now finally I can catch up on my show without being interrupted by you and your romance. You can stay and watch with me, but only on one condition."

"What would that be?" Wanda asks. 

"No talking or kissing please!" 

"You didn't say no cuddling, I am staying." Steve places an arm around Wanda.

Wanda lets out a small laugh and an eye roll as the three begin to watch Nat's crime show, which is actually quite interesting. 


	14. Chapter 14

Steve has been focusing on the 'Bucky Search' mission for a while now, but finally decides that it is time to get back to the basics and work on improving the team. He puts together a proper schedule for each of the Avengers and tells everyone that they will be going back to having regular scheduled training sessions, which earns some groans out of the team.

"Wanda, couldn't you have kept Steve busy longer?" Sam asks, jokingly.

"That sucks for you guys!" Clint laughs. 

"Just because you're only here part-time doesn't mean you get off of training." Steve says. 

Wanda, go back to having your cuddling sessions in the lounge, anything to get rid of the training!" Clint whines.

"Guys, enough." Steve says. "You're all going to get lazy and become out of shape. We need to stay sharp because there could be another mission at any time."

"Fine."

"Alright now, I'll be training with Nat, Pietro and Wanda right now. The rest of you will have training after lunch."

"What about Stark?" Clint asks. "He's here part-time too! Doesn't he need training?"

"He's…a special case." Steve replies.

This earns some more groans and even a few eye rolls out of the team. Steve just ignores it and goes to the gym. He is followed by Nat, Pietro and Wanda.

"Alright so, yes you two have powers but, you cannot always rely on them." Steve says. "Pietro, I want to help you get better with hand-to-hand combat and one-on-one stuff. Since you have speed, I want you to use that to your advantage."

"Sounds good to me." Pietro says.

"As for you Wanda, I also want you to improve in hand-to-hand and one-on-one stuff but, I want to see what else your powers can do because maybe you'll discover that you have a few tricks up your sleeve."

"Okay," Wanda replies.

"First though, I want to see some sparing. Nat, Wanda, you two are up first."

The two girls take to the mat and, start sparing. Wanda is a little unsure of what to do and, as soon as Nat goes to take a punch, she waves her arm and creates a forcefield around herself. Then, she takes the opportunity to take a punch to Nat. The two are both doing very well, one seeming to take the lead but the other coming back. Just then, Pietro sneezes and Wanda turns to face him.

"Bless you." She says.

"Thanks, Sestra." Pietro smiles.

With that, Wanda is tackled onto the mat.

"That's unfair!" Wanda yells.

"And if the enemy sneezes are you going to stop to say 'bless you'?" Nat asks.

"No but...this is different! That was Pietro!"

"It's fine." Steve says. "You did very good Wanda, especially up against Nat."

Wanda lets out a smile as Nat helps her to her feet.

"Next up, you and me." Steve says to Pietro.

"Let's see if you can keep up, Old Man." Pietro scoffs.

The two go on the mat and Pietro instantly starts off by giving Steve a quick few punches. Steve catches one of Pietro's punches, surprisingly and quickly takes him down.

"Is that keeping up enough for you?" Steve smirks in Pietro's direction.

"I'm having an off day today." Pietro says, shaking his head in disapproval. 

This earns a small laugh from Wanda. 

"Wanda...I have an idea...of something you can do with your powers." Steve says. 

"And what exactly is this idea?" Wanda asks. 

"Do you think you're able to lift one of us up?" He questions. 

"Maybe, I'm not sure." 

"That could be helpful, if we're trying to get to a higher ground and, are not able to fly or something." 

"I guess I could try."   
  
For the next two hours, Wanda practices lifting up the three but, a lot of the time she ends up dropping them. Steve decides to try something different and gets a running start. 

"Now Wanda!" He says. 

With that, Wanda uses her powers to lift Steve into the air but, gets too excited that she actually was able to do it and drops him. Steve falls to the ground, landing on his back, with a loud thud. 

"Sorry," Wanda crunches up her nose and gets a little tense. "Are you okay?" 

"I'm...yeah, I'm okay." Steve says, standing up and stretching for a minute to make sure nothing hurts. 

He stretches out his right ankle and lets out a groan. 

"Steve?" Wanda asks, getting worried. 

"I just need to sit down for a minute." Steve replies. 

Nat and Wanda help Steve get to a chair, which Pietro brings closer. Steve sits down and starts to stretch his ankle out more, a look of pain going onto his face. 

"I'm so sorry Steve, I didn't mean to," Wanda is now feeling guilty about dropping Steve.

"No, it's okay." Steve says. "You didn't mean to do it."

"Plus you managed to break America's Golden Boy, Wanda!" Nat jokes. "You should be proud." 

This manages to get a smile out of Wanda and Nat is happy it does. Nat takes a look at Steve's ankle. 

"Oh Wanda you didn't really break him!" Nat says. "It's only sprained, at most, nothing bad." 

"That's good then, I mean that is better than it being broken." Wanda replies. 

"Yes, it is." Nat laughs. "I am going to go get him a bandage-wrap from his ankle and Pietro can go get some ice for that lovely bruise that he has on his elbow."

The two walk off and leave Steve and Wanda alone. 

"I'm sorry." Wanda says again, still feeling slightly guilty and bad about what happened. 

"Wanda, I'm fine. Really." Steve sighs. "It's something minor and will heal quickly."

"But still I hurt you and I feel bad about it and.." 

"Shh, don't worry." 

Steve pats on his lap, giving Wanda a signal to take a seat. She sits down on Steve's lap, her back pressed up against his chest. Steve wraps his arms around Wanda's small frame and hugs her tightly. He then places a few kisses on her jaw and neck; just light, soft kisses. This cause a smile to form across Wanda's face. 

"Wanda, I am fine. Don't stress." Steve says. 

"Okay," Wanda smiles. "I love you, Steve."  
"I love you too."

Wanda turns so she is now sitting and looking at Steve. She smiles at him and then wraps her arms around him, hugging him tightly. She starts to run her hands through his hair and gives him a soft and small kiss on his cheek. Steve runs his hand up and down Wanda's back. 

"Should we leave?" A familiar accented voice asks. 

Both turn and look to see who it is. It is Pietro and standing next to him is Nat. 

"No, we're fine." Steve says. "I just had to convince your sister that I am fine." 

"Good. And does she believe you now?" Pietro asks. 

Wanda nods. 

Nat wraps Steve's foot with the bandage and Pietro hands him the ice pack. 

"I'll take care of training with the others Steve." Nat says. "I'll get Pietro to help me." 

"You will?" Pietro asks, soon receiving an elbow to the ribs from Nat. 

"Yes, you will." Pietro says, correcting himself in fear of Nat beating him up. 

"You go rest your ankle Steve and be ready for tonight." 

"What's tonight?" Steve asks. 

"Stark's party." Nat smiles. "Wanda, be at my room by 4:00 so I can help you get ready."

Wanda nods, not really wanting to go to the party. She does not argue it though. She walks with Steve to his room and the two lie down on his bed. Steve wraps his arms around Wanda and holds her tightly. Wanda brings one of her hands to Steve's cheeks and lightly rubs it, which causes him to smile. 

"I love you." Steve says after a while longer of quite. 

"I love you too." Wanda replies.

\----

After a while of relaxing with Steve, Wanda finally decides to look at the time. She realizes that she should be at Nat's room now. 

"Steve," Wanda says, standing up. 

"Yeah?" Steve replies.

"I've got to go get ready for this party thing. See you later?"

"Yes of course." Steve pulls Wanda in to plant a quick kiss on her cheek. 

Wanda smiles and returns the favour, kissing Steve's cheek before leaving the room and heading to Nat's. 

"What took you so long?" Nat says.

"I am only 2 minutes late Nat I-" Wanda justifies. 

"I'm just bothering you Wanda. Now let's get you all done up." Nat smiles at Wanda. 

Nat sits Wanda on the edge of her bed and starts doing her makeup, putting on some eyeliner, mascara, blush...everything. Wanda is unsure what most of it is and just lets Nat do her thing. Once Wanda's makeup is done, Nat does her hair, creating some lose waves in it. Wanda looks at herself in the mirror once Nat is finished and is quite surprised with the outcome.

"You did great, Nat," Wanda says, looking over at Natasha who is doing her own makeup. "Thanks." 

"No worries, Wanda." Nat replies as she finishes with her makeup. "Now, to find you a dress. Take a look in my closet, there is a bunch of dresses towards the left side." 

Wanda looks through the closet and the first dress to catch her eye is a scarlet-red coloured one with a little bit of lace on the top half. She pulls it out as Nat walks over to her. 

"Try it on." Nat says.

Wanda does just that. She looks in the mirror and smiles. The dress fits her perfectly and, it looks great. The colour is, well, her colour. 

"The dress is all yours." Nat smiles. "I can't pull that off. It looks great on you." 

"Thanks Nat." Wanda says. 

"Go get yourself a pair of shoes for this then, meet me back her in 5 minutes." 

Wanda nods and goes to her room. She pulls out a pair of black combat boots, new ones that she has not worn yet. She puts them on and laces them up, smiling about how good she looks in the dress, which is a surprise to her. She goes back to Nat's room to find her wearing a simple but very elegant black dress and a pair of heels. 

"Nat your look great." Wanda says. 

"Thanks." Nat replies. "Now let's get going." 

The two go down to the garage. Nat pulls out a pair of car keys. There are many, many fancy cars that are ahead of them. Nat unlocks the car and it is a Ferrari. Of course it would be. Nat sits in the driver's seat and Wanda sits in the passenger seat, a little bit surprised and shocked about the car. Nat drives the two of them to the hall where Tony is hosting this party. She stops the car at the front and hands the keys to the valet so the car can be park. 

"Let's go find Steve for you." Nat says, smiling at Wanda. 

  
Wanda smiles a little and follows Nat inside. The hall is busy and Wanda feels a little uncomfortable and out of place. She does not recognize many of the people there and decides to stay close to Natasha, who is easily navigating through the crowd. Nat looks at Wanda and notices that she looks uncomfortable. The assassin grabs onto Wanda's hand so that she will not lose her in the crowd. This gains a smile out of the Sokovian. They girls make eye contact and Nat nods in Wanda's direction, as if reassuring her. After a little while longer, the girls spot Steve standing near the bar with a glass in hand. Steve is wearing a nice pair of dress shoes with black dress pants. He has on a dark blue button down with a black tie on and the sleeves of his shirt are folded up to his mid forearm. Steve sees the girls and smiles at them as they walk over. 

"Hey," Steve says, speechless. 

"Hi." Wanda replies. 

"Okay I am leaving you two lovebirds alone. Catch you both later." Nat says, escaping before the two can comment. 

"You look stunning, Wanda," Steve says, breaking the silence between the two. 

"You look very handsome, Steve." Wanda replies, slightly blushing. 

Just then, a slow songs begins to play. Many people being to couple up and walk onto the dancefloor, slow dancing with each other. 

"Shall we?" Steve asks, holding his hand out. 

"Yes," Wanda replies, placing her hand in Steve's.

The two walk over to the dance floor, not standing very close to the middle so that attention is not drawn to them. Steve places one of his hands on Wanda's waist and leaves his other hand in hers. Wanda places her free hand on Steve's shoulder. 

"I've never really done this before." Wanda admits. 

"Neither have I, don't worry." Steve replies. "I think I have a general idea of what to do."

"So I'm going to follow your lead then."

The two sway and dance with one another, Steve occasionally twirling Wanda around and pulling her back in towards his chest. They continue to make eye contact with one another and the smiles do not leave either of their faces. The song ends and Steve leads Wanda back to where they were before, standing near the bar. Pietro comes of to the two, his arm wrapped around a girl's shoulder. 

"Steve, Wanda, I would like you to meet Cody, my girlfriend." Pietro says. 

"Pleasure to meet you." Steve says, shaking hands with the girl. 

The four talk for majority of the night, better getting to know Cody mostly. By the end of the party, Wanda is quite happy she decided to attend, realizing that she had enjoyed herself. Steve is also happy he came, but is even happier to see that Wanda enjoyed herself and is still smiling by the time they arrive back at the base. 


	15. Chapter 15

"Steve!" Nat says, walking into the Captain's office. 

"Yes Nat?" Steve replies. 

"Isaw Barnes. As I was walking back from getting myself a coffee."

"Did you talk to him?" 

"No. I thought that I should tell you first." 

"Well, let's go then!" Steve says, practically jumping out of his seat. "Get Wanda and Pietro, and tell them to not wear anything flashy. We want to stay undercover. They have 5 minutes, max!" 

Nat nods and leaves be room, going to tell the twins. Steve, on the other hand, starts pacing his room. He is trying to come up with a plan to get Bucky back, hopefully without starting a big fight or, causing any trouble. The twins and Nat arrive outside Steve's office, all wearing darker and neutral coloured clothing that will not draw much attention to them. 

"Nat," Steve says. "You lead this. You're the one who saw him." 

Nat nods at the request and explains the plan she has in mind quickly before the four all leave, ready to take their positions and ready to get Bucky back to Steve. They all turn their coms on and split up, heading to the positions Nat has assigned for them. 

"Bucky was over at the market," Nat says, over the coms. "Steve, you and Wanda can approach him and Pietro and I will be here for backup. I'll also keep a lookout."

"Got it Nat." Steve replies. 

Steve takes Wanda's hand, the two of them walking around the market looking for Bucky. Nat stays across the street at the coffee shop, keeping look out for Bucky while Pietro circles the perimeter at a normal pace. After a while, Steve spots Bucky over at a fruit stand, putting some plums into a bag. 

"Eyes on him, Nat." Steve says. 

With that, Wanda and Steve approach Bucky.

"Buck?" Steve says. 

Bucky turns around, seeming to recognize Steve but, also seeming skeptical. 

"Bucky, come with us." Steve says. "Please."

"I'm sorry, Steve." Bucky says. 

"For what?" 

"This." Bucky bolts, running in the opposite direction of Steve and Wanda.

"Pietro, he's headed east." Wanda says over the coms.

"Got it!" Pietro replies before speeding off. 

Once Bucky reaches the perimeter, he is tackled by Pietro. Nat comes over with Steve and Wanda. The four, as well as Bucky, walk to a quieter area where they can talk. The end up in an empty alleyway behind some buildings. 

"Buck...why did you run?" Steve asks once they arrive back. 

"Steve, you can't trust me...after what they did to me?" Bucky shakes his head. 

"But...I miss you and now things can be like the old times."

"Nothing will be like the old times!" Bucky yells back.

There is silence for a moment.

"Do you remember anything?" Steve asks. "Anything from recently? Or anyone?"

"No." Bucky replies.

"Not even me?" Nat asks, sounding almost hurt. 

"...I remember you." Bucky looks at Nat, making eye contact with her, as a smile comes onto his face. 

"You better, Barnes." Nat flashes a smile to Bucky.

"Wait...what's with the smiling?" Steve asks.

There is no response from the two.

"Did you two..." Steve pauses. "Did you two fondue?"

The two exchange looks before they start blushing and laughing.

"Steve we dated, for a little." Nat finally answers.

"We stopped once the whole Winter Soldier me got worse..." Bucky says, his smile fading.

"But you're back now...we can get back together, right?"

"I'm not sure if it'll be a good idea, Nat. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Stay here for the night and then decide. Please?"

"Fine, fine." Bucky sighs.

Steve smiles, happy for his friends. Wanda notices the smile on Steve's face and quickly leans up and gives him a kiss on the cheek, happy to see him happy.

"Sorry, you were smiling." Wanda blushes. "I couldn't help it." 

"Stevie," Bucky says. "Who is she?"

"Girlfriend." Steve replies.

"I don't believe we've met." Bucky smiles, sticking out his hand, offering a handshake to Wanda. 

"I'm Wanda." Wanda says, shaking Bucky's hand. "Wanda Maximoff."

"Pleasure to meet you, doll." Bucky smirks. 

"Trying to steal me from Steve, I see?" Wanda jokes. 

"Nope, just happy for my friend. He hasn't been able to find a girl very easily. You know he used to look nothing like this right?"

"I've heard, yes. But he has the best personality, and I absolutely adore him."

"That's good then! Is he treating you right though?"

"He's treating me right, yes."

"If he isn't I'll kick his ass." 

Wanda laughs. 

"Thanks Bucky but Steve is great." Wanda replies. "He's a good man." 

"You got yourself a good one, kid," Bucky smiles. "He'll always have your back, no matter what." 

Wanda looks over at Steve, who is looking down and blushing due to all of the things Bucky is saying. 

"He is a good one, yeah." Wanda smiles in Steve's direction. 

"God you are an adorable couple!" Bucky says, placing one hand on Wanda's shoulder and the other on Steve's. "I'm happy for you. Steve."

"Thanks, Buck." Steve replies. 

"Okay yes, I get it." Pietro says. "You haven't seen each other in a while and affection is normal or whatever, but can we just speed this up please?"

"Piet!" Wanda flicks the back of Pietro's neck. 

"I like him." Bucky says. "But who the hell is he?"

"I'm Pietro Maximoff. The very, very incredibly sexy, fast and immortal Maximoff."

"Yes I like him a lot. Steve." Bucky says, eyes wide. 

"He's annoying, cocky and conceded." Wanda rolls her eyes. "If you like him that much, keep him." 

"He's your older brother? Or younger?" Bucky asks. 

"We're twins." Wanda replies. 

"But I am older than you...by 12 minutes." Pietro adds. 

This earns an eyeroll from Wanda. 

"Alright let's just get this show on the road, yes?" Nat says, trying to make sure a fight does not break out. 

Everyone nods in agreement and starts to walk off, Pietro speeding off already. Steve and Wanda, who are walking ahead of the others, exchange looks and smiles before Steve puts an arm around Wanda's shoulders.

"They do each other good." Nat says to Bucky. "We would do one another good too..."

"Nat, I don't want to hurt you." Bucky replies. 

"You won't hurt me." Nat barely chokes out the words, her voice somewhat cracking and sounding as if she I going to cry.

"Let's not talk about this for now, okay?"

Nat nods and the two continue to walk in silence. Nat finally slips her hand into Bucky's, which earns a small smile from the soldier and a blush to pair perfectly with it. 

\----

Once evening settles in, most of the avengers are off doing their own thing. Tony went to have a date night with Pepper, Sam is off at a bar with Rhodey. Vision is out adventuring somewhere, or something like that anyways, and Pietro went on a bowling date with Cody. This leaves Steve, Wanda, Nat and Bucky at the base. 

"Movies and pizza?" Nat suggests. 

All four agree with her and Nat goes to order some pizzas. This leaves Bucky, Steve and Wanda to fight over and decide on some movies to watch.

"I say we watch some sort of action movie." Bucky says.

"Buck, why not a romance?" Steve teases. "You can cuddle Nat at the sappy moments."

Bucky rolls his eyes as Steve laughs.

"Yeah, no thanks." Bucky says. "Plus Nat isn't all about that stuff."

"I know, Buck." Steve smiles in his direction.

"Mission Impossible?" Wanda suggests. 

"I like her, Stevie." Bucky says. "Those movies are supposed to be really good. And pretty much romance free."

"Well, she's mine." Steve laughs.

Bucky rolls his eyes.

"I'm not gonna take her from you, relax." Bucky replies. 

"Sit you asses down." Nat says, walking into the room with pizza boxes. 

"That was quick." Steve comments. 

"I used Stark's money...which is why I decided to offer them an amazing tip if they were to get the pizzas here fast." 

The four sit down on the couches, Wanda seated in Steve's lap and Nat and Bucky next to one another, barely touching.

"She's not going to bite, Bucky." Steve says, taking notice of how they are sitting.

"She might punch me though." Bucky replies. "I've had her do it before."

This earns Bucky an elbow to the ribs from Natasha. 

"Ouch, that hurt." Bucky whines.

"I've hurt you worse before." Nat adds. "Stop being a baby." 

Bucky squints his eyes at Nat, rolling them once Nat turns back to face the movie. 

"I can see you still." Nat says. "Cut it out."

"Cut it out!" Bucky mimics. 

In three seconds, Nat has Bucky's arm pressed between his shoulder blades. 

"What was that?" Nat questions. 

"Nat stop!" Bucky says, starting to feel the pain and not wanting to retaliate. 

"I said what was that?" Nat repeats, pushing Bucky's arm even more to cause some pain. 

"I'm sorry, okay? Is that what you want to hear?" 

Nat releases Bucky and sits back down next to him, a smile from ear to ear. 

"Geez." Bucky says, stretching.

"How were you two ever in a relationship?" Wanda asks, trying her best to ask this politely. 

"Well," Bucky starts. "I saw her from a mile away and just thought she looked lovely. Then, she approached me and starting beating the crap out of me. That is the exact moment when I knew she was right for me."

"Oh so you enjoy when I beat you up then?" Nat adds. 

"No I'm just sayin-"

"That you enjoy getting hit by me?"

"No, Nat I wa-"

"You were explaining to Wanda how much you love it when I hurt you."

"I was just joking with the kid!" Bucky screams. 

"I know, Winter Brat." Nat teases. "I just love it when you can't handle a joke and I especially love it when you lose your cool." 

Bucky, now with an angry look in his eyes, earns himself a pat on the head from Nat. 

"Fuck off." Bucky mumbles. 

"Oh no, but you love me don't you." Nat flips so she is now sitting on Bucky's lap, facing him. 

"Ugh." Bucky says, as Nat places her hands on his shoulders. 

Bucky moves his hands so they are places on Nat's waist as she pushes a kiss against Bucky's cheek.

"You love me." Nat teases.

"I do." Bucky mumbles, still trying to sound angry. 

This leads Bucky to push his lips against Nat's, which takes her by surprise. 

"Aw Bucky, look at you show some love to your girl." Steve teases as the kiss ends. 

"Steve, I wouldn't be talking." Nat says defending Bucky. "You and Wanda show so much affection that you couldn't even keep your relationship a secret from Pietro for an hour!"

"That's different Nat."

"Not really!" 

"Okay how about we all just be quiet and watch the movie?" Wanda says, preventing a fight from breaking out.

Everyone agrees and turn to face the screen again, putting full attention back onto the movie. Steve keeps looking back at Wanda though, smiling at her when she is mesmerized by the movie. Wanda catches his glare on her and turns to face him. 

"What?" She whispers. 

"You're just so...focused." Steve replies quietly. "It's cute."

This brings as blush to Wanda's face and, makes Steve press a kiss to her cheek. The two then bring their attention back to the movie. Halfway through the 3rd movie, Wanda feels herself getting tired. She leans her head on Steve chest and grabs onto his hand with her own. She, reluctantly, allows herself to fall asleep. Once they finish the 3rd movie, Steve realize Wanda is asleep. The four decide to call it a night. Steve picks Wanda up and carries her to his room while Bucky and Nat begin to cuddle with one another on the couch, only after ensuring that the coast is clear and no one will be interrupting them.

"Bucky, I missed you." Nat admits. 

"I missed you too." Bucky says. "And I am sorry for leaving." 

"That's...that's okay." Nat replies, hugging Bucky a little tighter.

Bucky kisses Nat on the top of the head and the two allow themselves to fall asleep. Meanwhile, Steve tucks Wanda into bed and kisses her on the top of her head. This causes her to smile. 

"Fake sleeping, are we now?" Steve asks with a smile as Wanda opens her eyes. 

"No, I woke up when you put me in the bed." Wanda says. "Now come, sleep. I want hugs."

Steve lets out a laugh as he closes the light and lies down in bed next to Wanda. He wraps his arms around her, holding her tightly and closely. 

"I don't want you to go away like how Bucky went away from Nat, okay?" Wanda says, after a few minutes of silence. 

"I am not going anywhere, Wanda." Steve says, placing a soft kiss on Wanda's neck. 

"Promise?"

"I promise. Now get some sleep before you are tired in the morning and cannot wake up!"

"I will. Goodnight Steve."

"Goodnight Wanda." 

Wanda smiles and clings onto Steve, holding onto him. She smiles as she falls asleep, feeling comforted by Steve holding onto her and, feeling happy that they are together. 


End file.
